Its All In The Circus Ways
by Jezzaanne
Summary: Sora's a dreamer with his head in the clouds. Roxas and Ventus are living the high life- literally. When a World renowned Circus arrives in Twilight Town, it brings excitement and dazzlement to the residents. Entranced by the Performers, Sora wishes his life was like Roxas. On the other hand, Ventus, wishes that he can have a simple life like Sora's. AkuRoku..SoRiku..Zemyx
1. Cirque Du Seance

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* * *

><p><strong>It's all in the Circus Way <strong>

Chapter 1

Cirque Du Séance 

"Would you look at this?"

Sora jumped in his seat violently when a hand slammed down on the desk with a loud 'smack' in front of him.

The shock fluttering in his chest still, Sora blinked and rubbed his bleary eyes to gaze at the terribly loud culprit.

'Culprits' to put it exactly

Sisters; Kairi and Naminé grinned down at him and Kairi thrust a large poster under Sora's nose.

"Look at this" she almost squealed

Frowning slightly, Sora looked down and saw a red and gold decorated poster before him. Either side was occupied by the upper half of two masked figures. Their masks were those of masquerade masks, also red and gold.

In what was left of the poster, were a group of other performers and animals. All dressed in brightly coloured garments.

"Cirque Du Séance?"

Sora gave the sisters a quizzical look and Naminé burst out excitedly

"It's a circus Sora, this is Sinistre Le Fou, it's French for Sinister Fire"

Kairi nodded enthusiastically "Mum and Dad went and saw Sans Cœr- Heartless, last year. They said it was absolutely spectacular."

Sora frowned

"And this has to do with us because-"

"They are coming to Twilight Town" Kairi and Naminé squealed together

The red head sister snatched the poster away from Sora and gazed at it longingly, she then seemed to coo.

"We are such a small place and a world famous performing arts circus decides to come here and put on a show."

Naminé agreed with a dreamy expression on her face

"Wouldn't it be a dream come true, Cirque Du Séance coming here?"

She stomped her feet giddily, "Mum and Dad took a video of Sans Cœr, all of the performers will travel here, how awesome would it be if we got to meet them?"

Kairi nodded "Yes, especially the acrobat twins, the Trickster and the Mage, oh and the Pyro; which he would most definitely be in charge of Sinistre Le Fou."

Sora frowned unable to comprehend the sister's babble. He gathered his things together, picked his folders up and pushed his chair back.

"Girls, we really don't have the time to be drooling over acrobats and Circus'. It would be totally awesome even I admit that; but we can't fall behind in school. Its killing us enough already."

He went to walk past the girls and Kairi rolled up her poster and then proceeded to thwack Sora over the backside with it.

Sora yelped and spun around back to Kairi who grinned and handed him the poster.

"Keep it, it will keep you inspired."

Then Kairi linked arms with Naminé and they strode from the library all laughs and giggles.

For a moment; Sora stood there befuddled then he sighed. He unrolled the poster and took another glance at it.

'_Sinistre Le Fou' _was on the bottom of the scarlet poster in bright, sparkly gold letters.

The two larger pictured performers on each side were surrounded by flames.

A young man with crimson hair and emerald eyes stared back from under the mask and the opposite side with a slightly older man had flames dancing in his palms.

Sora looked to the minor people in the centre of the poster surrounded by large cats. He saw identical twins, one in red and gold and the other in blue and gold.

There were numerous others all in intricate and breathtaking costumes and Sora was left dumbstruck on how much this Circus could advertise in one poster.

Shaking his head and feeling a little disappointed, Sora rolled the poster back up and tucked into his shoulder bag and thought to himself;

'_Maybe next time'_

* * *

><p>"Hey give that back you jerk, don't do this to me!"<p>

A familiar voice filled the halls and it was full of annoyance and desperation. Sora turned the corner into the locker hall.

Xion was in the centre of three large bullies.

Seifer, Fuu and Rai to be more exact.

Seifer was holding up a familiar red and gold poster up from Xion's grip and said in an almost disgusted voice.

"The Circus? Jeez that's all we need. A group of freaks to terrorise the town. Just wait till I get my hands on one of them."

Xion jumped up desperately trying to get her poster before she screeched, "They are smarter than what you take them to be; you asshole, they will see right through you." Seifer pulled the poster from her again.

"Aw little Xion wants to defend the animals."

Sora fell back against a locker and was confident that Xion could handle herself, he didn't have to intervene.

"You are so short-sighted" Xion shouted, causing kids to mill around the small group. "This town will be changed forever when this Circus visits, any Cirque will pummel you sorry backside."

Her face twisted angrily and when Seifer yanked the poster away from her slight hands again and Rai and Fuu laughed at her misfortune.

Xion's hands clenched into fists and with a savage, angry cry she lunged forward and punched Seifer in the nuts.

Seifer went down like a sack of potatoes and Xion deftly caught the poster floating down to her.

There was a roar of laughter from the kids milled around and there was a shocked splutter from Rai, "You're lucky, Seifer don't hit girl's y'know, otherwise you would be dead meat."

He bent down with Fuu to help Seifer up who groaned in pain and a kid somewhere in the crowd laughed, "She must have packed quite a hit, Seifer can't even stand up." There were more laughs and Xion spat; "He was lucky I only _punched _them, next time I won't be so lenient."

She hoisted her bag up and cradled the poster almost tenderly in her arms went to walk down the hall. She came to Seifer and 'stepped' on Seifer and walked over him. She strode out of the crowd and down the hall and Sora began to walk beside her.

"You definitely know how to make guys bow before you eh Xion?"

The smaller black haired girl smiled brightly up at him

"Oh hey Sora" her face made a disgusted look, "Ugh Seifer is just a jerk and calling the Cirques 'animals' jeez." She looked to the bright white floor, "and nobody else won't put him in his place."

The two walked down the hall and that's where Xion spotted the poster in Sora's arms. "You got a poster as well? You going to go see them?"

Sora smiled "I got the poster off Kairi and Naminé, they are fanatic about it. Said their parents went and saw 'Heartless' last year or something."

Xion flicked her hair back and smiled, "I have seen most of them, wanted to go see Des Animaux at the start of the year, I went back stage and met most of the Cirques."

Sora smiled at his friend, "Wow Xion, it's almost like you were one of them."

Xion laughed "Well there's not much to do in Twilight Town, but its quiet. That's why I moved here." She smiled up at Sora with her large sparkling eyes, "Just wait till you see Sinistre Le Fou, you will love it."

They walked outside and to the next school building and Sora watched the sky above him. "Hey Xion, you have seen the shows and know heaps, how does the Circus recruit?"

He continued to stare at the sky with the passing clouds; Xion said "They pick people up; if you show talent they snap you right on up. Most people in the circus joined when they were young. With some; it's all they know."

Sora saw a flock of birds fly from a tree and high into the sky, "Once I think about it, it would be awesome to join the circus." Xion looked at her dreaming friend before she looked up at the sky, "it's a spectacular thing, you live to perform and you're surrounded by people you love and if you're lucky, you will have family in there too."

Sora frowned when his view of the sky was obscured by the roof of the school building and his soaring dreams were suddenly grounded once more. He looked back to Xion who had her head bowed as she walked along the brick corridor and into the building.

Her face was downcast and she walked slightly ahead and reached the door to her class.

She looked up at Sora with a smile that he knew was forced and she said, "Thanks for walking me to class Sora."

Sora gave her a puzzled smile, "It's what I do everyday Xion, but you're welcome."

Xion gave him a soft smile and he continued down the hall, he didn't hear her say, "I just haven't appreciated it until now Sora."

Sora shook his unruly brown spikes and gave a look to the Circus poster. It come a little undone and he caught sight of the young man clad in scarlet. He sighed and said to himself;

"I think the circus is making everyone stupid."

* * *

><p>"How was school Sora?"<p>

Sora threw his bag haphazardly into the corner and heard his mother call out. He bent down and ripped his folders and papers from his bag and replied;

"It was alright, same as always."

His mother came from the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishcloth; "You have homework to do?"

Sora held up his work with a fake smile on his face and it dropped when his mother said, "Well you better do it all, I don't want you falling behind."

She walked back into the kitchen and Sora begrudgingly followed. His family was a major block on his imagination.

He threw his stuff on the kitchen table and his sixteen year old brother Jace gave him a death stare, "Watch were you're throwing your crap" he snapped.

Sora scowled and Jace rolled his eyes and went back to scribbling on his paper.

Unlike his older brother, Jace didn't give a crap about school. He hated the very _word _of school and anything that went with it.

The brothers sat there in begrudging silence and pen scratched against paper. Sora disliked homework very much, but he knew he couldn't afford to fall behind. He completed one task and went to pick up his second folder.

Paper fell everywhere and Sora noticed a second late, that his poster for the Circus fell out.

'_Crap'_

Sora watched with dread and then tried to snatch the poster up but Jace beat him to it. "What's this?"

He unrolled it and his eyes became clouded with revulsion, "The Circus?"

He gave Sora a malicious smirk then called out;

"Mum! Sora wants to go to the Circus?"

"Do not!" Sora retaliated "Kairi gave me the damned thing."

"Sora!" the teenager cringed and his mother threw down the dishcloth and stalked over to the table.

"The Circus! I'd be damned before I let you go to that damn nuisance; we moved here to get away from this drama, so you can focus on your future."

Sora got up to defend himself then;

"You over react mum, it's only a circus. The kids at school were excited and Kairi gave me one."

His mother looked livid; "You dare backchat young man?"

Sora was defiant "I know its high time I'm in charge of my own life, big deal. it's a circus and I wouldn't mind going to go see it. Damn homework, damn _school_."

There was a high sharp noise that resonated through the kitchen when Sora was slapped by his mother.

The silence that followed almost seemed to deafen Sora.

His cheek stung and all he could do was stare openly, gaping at his mother. Then with a rush of fury, Sora snatched the circus poster off his jerk off brother and then proceeded to push everything off the table.

"_I hate you" _he shouted before he bolted for the stairs

Sora slammed his door shut and stormed into his dark room and threw the poster at his desk.

It unravelled and rolled to the floor and the boy threw himself on his bed and angrily punched his pillow.

It was so _unfair _

Sora hated his life, he _loathed _it, his mother was a bitch. His brother, a bastard.

Sora didn't even bother to think of his dad, from his mothers angry rants. He had taken off and disappeared when his mother fell pregnant with him

So he didn't even exist in Sora's eyes.

He sighed into his pillow and let his mind wander and eventually go black, he didn't know what to think about now.

All was silent for a moment before Sora heard his phone vibrating. He lifted himself up, feeling as heavy as lead. He groaned and dredged his phone from his shorts, he illuminated the screen and a message blinked happily.

It was from Kairi

But when Sora read the message it wasn't as happy.

"_Your mum is yelling at my dad again"_

Sora cursed loudly and flung himself from his bed and wrenched open his door. His mother's voice was heard yelling from downstairs and when Sora saw Jace slink past he hissed, "This was your fault."

His brother was hunched and he said in a grumpy voice; "So? I havent gotten into trouble so I'm alright."

"_Your daughters are a bad influence on him, filling his head with silly nonsense. Especially about this circus"_

"_WHAT, too hard? He's my son and I will raise him as I please? Its already hard enough keeping him focused on the real world. If you don't have a talk with your daughters and give them some discipline I will do it myself."_

"_I am forbidding Sora to associate himself with your demon girls, they are corrupting his immortal soul."_

There was silence for a moment before there was a bang and Sora knew that his mother had just thrown the telephone across the room.

There was a scuffle of footsteps and Sora had the feeling that this should be the part where he ran away.

This is what he would have done when he was younger cause that meant trouble.

But now that he was older, Sora was defiant and his mother was not going to stop him being friends with Naminé and Kairi.


	2. Circus Freak

As the school bell rung, Sora took his time to pack away his books. He didn't want to rush home today.

He hoped that something would happen and it would be his excuse for dawdling home.

He hiked up his pack and strode from his classroom. If he found any of his friends, it would be a godsend.

Kids were escaping everywhere, for a Thursday afternoon it was a fairly common sight to see school kids running around in their work uniforms ready to catch the tram down to the plaza.

When Sora caught sight of a familiar mop of magenta hair, he stood tall on his tiptoes and shouted; _"Kairi."_

Down the hall, Kairi spun around and Sora saw that she was accompanied by Naminé. The red head sister was in her school uniform and Naminé was dressed for work.

Kairi waved acknowledging Sora; who weaved his way through the crowd of kids to reach the sisters.

"Hey" the both greeted simultaneously and Sora beamed at them, "Working Nami?"

The blonde nodded "Yeah, Kairi didn't a shift with me today, so I'm working and Kairi has to hang around and do some shopping."

"Can I tag along" Sora asked "Mum and Jace are home and I don't really want to-" he didn't finish his sentence, Kairi hooked arms with him and said in her bright bubbly voice. "Sure Sora you can come shopping with me, I wouldn't want to be around your mum either, she's a B-I-T-."

"Kairi!" Naminé reprimanded and Sora just smiled lightly, "Don't worry girls, she really is one."

Together the three walked down the hall and went to the tram station that was stationed next to the school. When everybody got aboard the tram, it began to rumble down the tracks. It was alive with hustle and bustle, people got on; people got off.

This was the routine until the tram hit Station Plaza and almost everybody got off.

Sora lost sight of Kairi and Naminé through the crowd of people. He wasn't too worried through; he would meet them later on at the café that the girls worked at.

Sora wandered through the Plaza and frowned when he saw another crowd of people up against the large brick wall.

There was cheering and the word _'fight' _hit Sora's ears.

Being like most narrow minded people, Sora didn't want to interfere with the fighting.

A short breeze rustled the street and something fluttered to Sora's feet. He looked down and saw the circus posters that his friends had been carrying around for the past week. He frowned and he snapped his gaze back to the crowd.

Some people parted and Sora saw the billowing white cloak that belonged to somebody that Sora loathed.

_Seifer_

The name made Sora seethe in anger and a scowl decorated his face. He was instantly on the defensive when he saw Seifer hit a smaller blonde boy that Sora had not seen before.

The boy was dressed in a dazzling, but slightly faded red and gold shirt with baggy black pants. An assortment of bells chimed on the boy's shoes as he tried to sidestep Seifer's heavy fisted blows and when the boy tried to run, either Fuu or Rai, Seifer's stupid friends pushed him back.

Sora stalked over with determination gnawing him; _"He's from the circus, Seifer finds it funny to pick on somebody smaller and not like himself."_

Anger filled him as he neared the crowd; he pushed people away until he reached Seifer. He pushed him and shouted angrily, "Leave him alone you jerk off, can't fight those your size so you have to pick on those smaller than you?"

The minute Seifer turned on him with his menacing gaze, Sora felt his courage leave him and fright began to flutter in his chest.

"What are you going to do about it Twit? Defending the Circus Freak?" Seifer pushed Sora up against the wall, his schoolbag absorbing most of the heavy impact. He looked to the ground where he saw crimson blood spattered everywhere and the red leaking from in between the boy's fingers which was covering his face.

"It will be ok" Sora said through grit teeth and Seifer chuckled cruelly, "Protecting your little circus boyfriend are we? How Gay!" He smacked Sora over the face in a taunting way, "Whatcha gunna do 'bout it huh? Whatcha gunna do?"

"Hey!" Sora protested, "Have to use your mouth to compensate for your small dick do you?"

Rai and Fuu gasped then let out a snort, looking at Seifer in amusement. But the bully was far from amused. He rounded on Sora who flung his arms across his head, so Seifer hit him in the gut instead.

Having the breath knocked from him, Sora coughed and wheezed dropping his arms. He gazed to the boy beside him and saw striking azure eyes calculating him with weary curiosity.

Seifer pulled back his fist, "You're gunna die shrimp, along with your little circus freak friend as well."

Sora gazed at the bully helplessly, but before his fist came back, it was caught by a much smaller fist.

The blonde boy twisted Seifer's arm back before kicking him in the shins with his bell shoes. Then he done a neat backflip, knocking people from the crowd. His shoes jingled ridiculously as he jumped up against the wall.

All Sora could do was think to himself dumbstruck.

'_He is one of the Acrobats'._

The boy, absolutely covered in blood and totally beat up glared back to Seifer who shouted; "Fuu, Rai! Grab him, I will pummel the little pretzel."

"I wouldn't dare do that if I were you."

A new angry voice was heard and a large shadow loomed over Seifer. He was pushed roughly against the wall beside Sora, who squeaked in fright and stepped away.

A tall, vicious looking red head was giving Seifer a run for his money. He was dressed for a circus as well and with a jolt of recognition, Sora recognised the man from the Circus poster, the one dressed in the red and gold.

The young mans acid green eyes were burning with hate, "Think you're tough, picking on people smaller than you? Well I'm here now, do you have the balls to take me on?"

He spun Seifer around and instantly the tall blonde spat at the red head's face, "Circus Filth" he snarked.

The Circus performers eyes narrowed into slits and with the checkered sleeve of his shirt, he wiped his face and said darkly, "People like _you _are filth."

He pushed his hand from his sleeve and clicked in front of Seifer's face. His hand came alight in flames and he inched it closer and closer to Seifer. "Never mess with a person that practises pyrokinesis."

His face was still grim "Of course you wouldn't know what that means, but now you have pissed me off."

Before Sora could even blink, the man nearly pushed his flaming hand into Seifer's face, who in turn began to shriek, "He's gunna kill me! Somebody shoot him!"

The man stopped when his hand was jerked back, he looked behind him and the blonde boy stared at him and desperately shook his head. There was a sigh and Seifer was let go, he was dropped and he immediately went to his friends and spat; "Don't think your circus family will be allowed here when I take this to the authorities."

The three ran away and the crowd quickly dissipated, the muttering slicing the air. Sora let out a small squeak of surprise when the red head turned on him looking livid, "You askin' for it are you?"

"No don't, he helped me." The blonde boy spoke softly and the Pyro stopped and held out his hand to Sora and helped him off the wall.

"Sorry about that, thought you were one of them." He flashed Sora a smile, "I'm Axel and Mister Silent over here is Roxas."

The boy, Roxas; nodded and Axel said "So you helped him? Thanks for that."

Sora smiled, "You guys have pretty awesome skills, I wasn't even used except for as a punching bag."

Axel chuckled, "Well you defended him when nobody else would."

Roxas smiled at Sora from behind Axel and Sora didn't want to miss a chance to befriend the circus folk.

"So where are the others?" he asked and Axel snorted "They wont be here for another couple of days, Roxas and I were sent here in advance to put out posters and advertise. Two more will arrive here tomorrow for demonstrations and the day after that, BOOM, you will see the entire, famous Cirque Du Séance."

Sora beamed and Axel hit him on the arm in a friendly way, "Come out to Sunset Hill tomorrow afternoon, I will introduce you to the others and you can come down with us to see the demonstration."

Axel nodded satisfied and Roxas smiled softly at Sora and said his second sentence for that day, "Don't forget, Sunset Hill after school." Then his bloodied face pinched and he enquired; "We didn't even get your name."

"Sora" the boy replied, "My names Sora."

…

Sora opened the café door seeing the place packed.

A small bell jingled cheerily at his entrance and he saw Naminé look up from her table of customers.

"Oh hey Sora, we didn't know where you got off too, Kairi's back there."

Sora smiled and Naminé hurried away and disappeared into the small kitchen.

Kairi was at the booth that they all had been sitting at for years. Although there were three of them, four when Xion hung about; the massive booth was theirs and theirs alone.

The red head waved, "There you are, we didn't know where you disappeared after we got off the tram you tart",

Sora sat down opposite Kairi and Naminé emerged from the kitchen with a drink tray. She went over to the booth and gave Sora and Kairi the usual strawberry thick shakes before walking away with her tray precariously balanced.

Kairi started to slurp the foam from the top of her glass and gazed at Sora curiously; "What are you smiling about Cheshire Cat? Your grin is larger than your face."

Sora chuckled and swirled his straw around his cup, "Nothing, just remembered something funny, that's all."

Kairi grinned wickedly then drew her straw out from her glass and blew through it. All the foam built up inside the straw flew out all over Sora and she laughed; "Havent seen you laugh in a while Sora, feels great you know. It only shows that your Mother cant hold you from everything, especially your own life."

Sora nodded and Kairi added, "Do you know what will be cool? To live like Xion. She doesn't have parents she does everything, anything she wants'.

Sora took a sip of his drink, "Xion's mentioned a sister before, but its hard to get her to speak of her life."

Kairi nodded in agreement, "Yeah, true; but its still cool."

It was silent for a moment before Kairi asked again; "What are you going to say to your mother Sora?"

The brunette deliberated his situation before he shrugged and said "I'm not going to lie, I'm down here now. There's nothing she can do."

Kairi nodded "Fair enough."

She smiled brightly when Naminé sidled in next to Sora and said "While its settled." Without asking, the fair blonde yanked Sora's straw towards her and took a sip of his drink.

When she gave Sora a cheeky grin she asked "So what are we talking about?"

Kairi finished her drink; "Sora's mother."

Naminé rolled her eyes, "Tell her that you are the boss of your own life Sora, don't take her crap."

Then in the next breath she added "Do you know what? The Circus is coming soon." She smoothed down her apron and Kairi nodded enthusiastically "I so cant wait, Sora you will have to come with us and see it."

"Oh I will" he replied, "Something like this doesn't happen very often."

Naminé fixed herself up and said hurriedly "I'll be back."

She rushed off towards the kitchen and Kairi slumped back on the seat.

"This is the first time I have seen you excited about the circus Sora, trust me, it would be so worth it, especially this one."

The brunette nodded eagerly, "Well Kairi, I have a reason to be excited now. Come with me to the Bazaar tomorrow. Are you and Naminé working?"

Kairi nodded "Not till late though, so whatever you have planned, sure we could go." Sora nodded satisfied, "Brilliant."

,,.,.,.,.,..

As always, school was a drag. Sora gazed at the clock all day and swore that the clock was ticking backwards. He grew more irritated when the afternoon began to drag as well.

He waited

And waited

Then when 3:15 ticked, the bell rang.

Sora didn't wait for the teacher to dismiss the class. He shoved all his books in his bag and ran from the class. He was running and he caught up with Kairi and Naminé.

"Where's Xion, I thought she would have come with us" Sora asked and and Kairi hiked up her bag and shrugged. "She wasn't even in class come to think of it. She must have gone home."

"Why are we running?" Naminé puffed and her sister laughed , "Sora wants to beat everyone to the tram."

After school there was only one tram that travelled to the Bazaar and if you missed it, there wasn't a second chance. Too bad about quarter of Sora's school fought to get on that Bazaar tram.

The trio ran through the halls and out of the school building. More kids appeared running, obviously for the tram and Kairi skipped ahead and sang out "Come on! I want a seat on that tram."

The tram appeared and they skidded to halt and pulled out their passes.

Sora chose the seats up front, revelling in the satisfaction of beating the other kids to the seats, even to the tram.

Instead of fighting over the backseat, everyone fought over the front ones. Vecause they wanted to be the ones to get off first.

Kairi laughed at the kids that missed out on the tram and when it began to rumble down the tracks, the red head sat back grinning at her sister then back to her best friend.

"So" she said "Why did we have to run like dorks to the tram?"

"Why are we going to the Bazaar?" Naminé interrupted enquiringly.

Sora chuckled "Just wait girls, just wait."

He leant his head on the window and watched Bazaar Twilight Town come into view. The Bazaar was an upsized state of the Plaza. More expensive shops, eateries and arcades littered the Bazaar.

The tram steamed in and stopped and Sora, Naminé and Kairi got off.

The Bazaar was still quiet for the time being and Sora quickly found who he wanted to find. He ran over the pavement and heard the sisters exclaim behind him "Sora! Wait up."

Sora ran to the opposite side of the Bazaar clearing and exclaimed, puffing slightly. "Hey Guys."

Axel turned around and Roxas dropped the box he was holding down onto the pavement. "Hey Sora" he greeted with a smile on his bruised face, "You must have run from school." Axel ruffled Sora's wild spikes, "You twit, you even beat the other Cirques here."

"Oh-my-god!"

Sora smiled; "Axel, Roxas. I bought some friends I wanted you to meet." He turned around and gestured out with his arm. "This is Kairi and her twin Naminé."

He gestured out with his other hand, "Kairi, Naminé this is Axel and Roxas."

Kairi was gushing and she shook Axel's hand, "You're here? I cant believe you met Sora, out of all people, _you met Sora_."

Naminé's eyes were huge with excitement, "We are all huge fans of your shows, I'm so excited to meet you both."

Axel quirked a brow at Kairi, "Met Sora? Out of all people?"

Kairi nodded, "Just to say, _we don't flow with the 'regular' crowd."_

Axel chuckled, "Neither do we, who cares what the jerks say about you. Be proud to be yourself, it what we Cirques say!" He smiled briefly at Sora and said, "I met Sora yesterday, he defended Roxas against tough shit wannabe. He wasn't afraid to stand up against the prejudices that people see of us."

Naminé scoffed "You would have met Seifer then, he reckons he rules the world and everybody that lives in it."

"Not when Axel sent him home with his tail between in his legs" Sora laughed and Kairi jumped to the heels of her feet and exclaimed "Bout time somebody put him in his place. Well, I mean none of us can stand up to him. We are all so short!"

"Hey guys, made new friends have we?"

At the new voice, Sora spun around and saw a bubbly, young man with crazy, spiked blonde hair.

Behind the young man was another, with slate coloured hair and a solemn look upon his face.

"I know you!" Naminé squeaked.

She pointed to the darker haired man excitedly, "He is Zexion, the Conductor and Master of the show 'Filou' - 'Trickster' and the other one is Demyx, the Mage for 'Majestueux' - 'Majestic'.

"Well" Demyx chuckled "Looks like I didn't have to introduce ourselves."

He dropped an armload of blue props and Roxas popped his head from behind Axel and smiled brightly; "Hi guys, I'm so glad the Boss sent you guys."

"Whoa" Demyx halted, his eyes widening in surprise. "Roxas jeez."

Zexion stepped forward beside Demyx "What happened Roxas?"

Roxas stepped back and mumbled "Fight." And Axel added "I showed them but." Zexion took it right away that the golden Cirques didn't want to speak about what had happened.

Sora sensed the awkwardness so taking the situation into his hands, he thrust out his hand to Demyx and shook his. "I'm Sora by the way, and these are my friends Kairi and Naminé

Demyx shook Sora's hand enthusiastically and his large eyes slid to Kairi and he said in a curious, outwards voice. "You remind me of somebody."

He beamed at the gathered people "So are you going to stay for the performance?"

"Oh yeah!" Kairi bobbed her head "We will so stay, I havent seen you two perform before. Well I havent seen it on the internet."

Axel chuckled "Well guys, looks like we have gotten ourselves some new friends." Roxas nodded and gazed back to Sora and the girls, "Why don't we do something tonight? We cant pass something up like this."

Sora nodded, "Awesome, I will see what I can organise." He looked beside him and saw Naminé whipping out her mobile.

"What are you-?" he began to say but Naminé hushed him. "Calling work" she said abruptly "I am _not _going to work while you have the opportunity to hang out with performers from _Cirque Du Séance_."

"Me too!" Kairi shrieked. "Looks like having Sora around was a good idea after all."


	3. The Performance

**Hey everyone, like a promised an update :) Its not forgotten :P**

**Anyway had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but it was rushed at the end because i was running out of juice and i didnt know where to take it :)**

**Anyway I hope the chapter suffices and you like it as much as i did :)**

**ENJOY**

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><p>Sora, Kairi and Naminé were on the front row when the crowd had started to congregate in the Bazaar.<p>

The Cirques were preparing for their Bazaar Performance; Roxas was stretching out his leg muscles and his arms. He still looked battered and sore, but by judging the determination in his eyes; it was obvious he was not going to pass this up.

Axel had fire dancing up and down his checkered sleeves; he rolled balls of fire from his shoulders down to his hands before throwing them up into the air and juggling them a few times before they diminished.

The Newcomers that had been called Demyx and Zexion were standing a little way in front. Zexion almost seemingly to cradle a huge black and blue book that looked almost bigger than himself and Demyx spinning around and plucking the strings of his Instrument that he called a 'Sitar.'

All four, (except maybe Zexion) looked excited for the performance and they began to all avidly talk to each other in another language as the crowd continued to grow.

"This is so exciting" Naminé whispered to Sora who stood on her left. She grabbed hold of his arm and her eyes shone with excitement. "I can't believe that they happened to stumble upon us and become our friends. If it were anybody else, I would be so jealous."

On her right, her magenta haired twin was bobbing with excitement, "Man I wish Xion was here to see this. She wouldn't be very happy." She turned around and stood on her tiptoes before coming back down and whispering to her best friend and sister.

"They're getting quite a crowd. People are everywhere."

"They are World Known Kai-" Naminé whispered "But being in Twilight Town, seeing this is just new and something to experience. People aren't used to this."

Kairi nodded in agreement "You're right Nami."

She bounced up onto her tiptoes again "Wish they would start already. I'm dying of excitement!" Sora couldn't help but laugh at his friend. "You're on a sugar rush Kai. Stop before you go nuts!" he chuckled and Kairi pulled a face at her friend.

Before she could say anything, Naminé pulled on Sora's arm. "Shh they're starting."

The crowd buzzed with curiousity and excitement and Demyx hoisted up his Sitar and walked forward over the red pavement and called out in his cheery voice.

"Welcome everybody. Its- well I'm glad to see all the people that came out to see our Performance today" he laughed "As some people would know, we are from Cirque Du..." Demyx trailed off and his face went blank "Cirque Du...-" he said softly.

Sora saw Roxas face palm and shake his head and Axel smirked before stepping forward and opening his arms to the crowd. Small flames danced from his chest and skittered up his arms in a small display;

"We are Cirque Du Séance; we have come to Twilight Town to promote my very own Show Sinistre Le Fou. My companions are Roxas, Demyx and Zexion and we are delighted to be performing for you all today."

He gestured to his fellow Cirques and there was a small burst of applause from the crowd. Demyx looked a little pink from embarrassment and he stepped back towards Zexion who rolled his eyes and flicked open to a page in the centre of his large book.

Roxas was hopping on his toes making the little bells jingle before he reached his arms out either side of him and with amazing speed he ran a circle around his companions clearing the crowd back to create more room for the Performance.

Sora, Naminé and Kairi stepped back along with the rest of the crowd and Roxas done a neat backflip back towards Axel and bounced back onto his feet.

Axel gazed at the crowd with his dark green eyes blazing with anticipation and he said in his best Performance voice "Let us begin."

There was a blare of music from the boxes behind Zexion and from the certain Illusionist shadows erupted around him and the other Cirques. When it cleared Roxas was gone and Axel clenched his fists and brought one up to his mouth.

Then he unclenched it and with an almighty breath, flames spiralled sky high around him. Roxas appeared from the flames and he seemed to standing on the flames as he descended down. Then about halfway to the pavement, he launched off the platform of fire and done several twists and turns before landing neatly on two smaller platforms of fire to break his fall to the earth.

There were gasps of excitement and horror and Sora was awestruck by the Cirque's simple performance. It struck everybody in the crowd and more people began to gather at the sight of flames and music.

Roxas jumped back from Axel's flames and went behind the Pyro as Demyx stepped forward.

The music changed to more blissful music and Demyx flipped his Sitar and nodded to Zexion who nodded his head in acknowledgment before raising his hand.

The audience cheered as Demyx let a shout escape him and from everywhere, the water began to gather. It came up from the pavement and from the air around the audience. It quickly gathered and made a tidal wave that loomed over the crowd.

Both Kairi and Naminé flung their arms over their head tensing for the water to fall and drench everybody. Before it could splatter everyone, Sora looked to Zexion to the left of Demyx; he clenched his fist and he got a purple glow surrounding him.

There was a rumble that echoed from the water before it was suddenly wrenched away from everyone's heads. Through the wall of bubbling water, Demyx sprung back and thrummed some strings on his Sitar before he called out:

"Come on and Dance!"

The water switched ways and rushed towards the Cirques and began to swirl around them and shapes became visible, squirming and writing in the liquid. It rhythmically pulsed in beat to Demyx's music, then from the blue/clear water swirling around the Cirques heads; shapes fell and manifested onto the earth.

"Wow" Naminé breathed, her eyes locked on the defining water shapes

"My God" Kairi muttered in awe

Sora was frozen to the spot; this was everything he had ever dreamed of. He had no foreboding thoughts and doubts about the Circus now. This was exhilarating and he wanted to be part of it.

The shapes took the form of people, long and lithe with baggy pants and erratically pointed shoes. Their upper half of their face was obscured by a rounded hat with large ribbons twirling off the end. All together at the beat and tunes to Demyx's Sitar, they all began to dance and twist.

"They're Demyx's Water Dancers" Naminé whispered matter-of-factly to Sora. "They are his favourite to put into his acts." Sora cast a brief look to the fair headed twin before looking back to the Dancers.

They danced around and from the water still hovering above everyone, large balls of water formed and that's when Axel turned to Roxas. "Alright, you ready?" he asked.

Roxas nodded and took off his jingle shoes throwing them towards the prop boxes and danced on his tip toes.

Axel looked back up towards the large water bubbles then to Demyx who swung his Sitar around again and gave a quick nod to Axel.

The Pyro acknowledged his companion before turning to the small blonde and lifting him up by the legs.

Roxas balanced neatly on the palms of Axel's hands and held up his arms above his head and observed the large crowd gathered in the Bazaar. His sapphire eyes glinted in anticipation before he shouted down to Axel.

"Now Axel!"

The red head bent his knees slightly before pushing back up with all his might and hurled Roxas right into the water bubble above them.

Demyx pulled some more strings and the bubble rotated with the smaller acrobat inside and Roxas swum around before being lifted to the top of the large bubble. He came out the top all wet and he held up his hands again.

The bubble suddenly seemed to be solid as Roxas took a tentative step forward, then he launched off the first bubble and right into the second one. He swam around inside the water before he began to glow an intense shade of gold.

The bubble lit up and got brighter and brighter with golden light before the bubble burst into millions and millions of tiny droplets. It gently sprayed over the crowd and Roxas landed in front of his fellow Cirques still surrounded by golden light.

The water started to rise off him as Demyx pulled several strings on his instrument and within a minute, the blonde Acrobat was dry and Demyx let the water splash back onto the ground.

His Dancers danced in half circles near the crowd and one came up to Sora.

He saw through its transparent head and leant back away from it. It came closer and closer until it opened its mouth in a grin. It had rows and rows of sharp teeth and for a brief moment, it wasn't made of water.

It seemed like a human clad in a pink outfit, it giggled and spun around and the large pink ribbon twirled around Sora. It danced back and made Sora spin around as it withdrew it ribbon from around his body.

It danced away and became water again and Sora stood there dumbfounded and Naminé had her mouth open and she was gaping like a fish. "I-I thought they were only water illusions, doesn't seem like it."

The music came to a close and the water dissipated and the Dancers all twirled around again in synchronisation before they all burst into bubbles, except one; who waved to Sora before disappearing.

Zexion shut his book with an audible 'snap' and Demyx held down his Sitar, Roxas jumped back to Axel and the red head opened his arms and surround everybody in flames in a spectacular ending display.

When everything died down, the crowd broke into applause and the Cirques bowed, their face glowing in delight. Roxas waved to everybody and Axel shouted over the claps "Thankyou everybody, it was a pleasure."

People began to break away, some teenagers and kids lingering around asking for autographs and photos with the Cirques.

Axel gladly signed his name over his face on his advertisement poster for his show and grinned for the photos as did Demyx.

Roxas was a little shy; turning down most photos and Zexion just flat out refused and started to pack up their props. The Illusionist was not a people person, preferring to keep to himself or Cirques if necessary.

About half an hour later, everybody had left the Cirques alone and Sora and the Twins made their way back over.

Axel grinned down at them from his insane height "How did you like that?"

Naminé squealed and jumped back onto her heels "It was amazing, you guys are awesome. I can't wait for the actual Circus to arrive and we get to see everybody."

Axel chuckled and went to pick up a large blue box, "Yeah, we work pretty well. There are a lot of us; so we can't afford to have spats or fights among us."

Roxas picked up a smaller box and followed behind Axel faithfully before smiling at Naminé and Sora, "If you want to keep hanging around us 'Circus Freaks' you can meet them tomorrow afternoon."

Before Sora could protest and deny their statement there was a surprised squawk behind him. "Freaks! You guys? No way."

Kairi stepped up beside her sister and shook her red hair "Don't listen to the jerk-wads that call you 'freaks' you guys are famous all around the world. Everybody loves your shows."

"I'd love to go out and meet the rest of you" Sora agreed and Naminé shook her head vigorously "I wouldn't want to miss a heartbeat hanging out with you guys while you are in Twilight Town."

"It's rather sleepy around here" Kairi added "Not much happens around here because we are so secluded from the mainlands. Why did you come here?"

Axel looked up to the sky before shrugging his shoulders and looked back to the teenagers, "Us Cirques need some winding down time as well. It's exhausting when you do our jobs; it's always do this and do that all the time."

Roxas popped his head around from the Pyro and started in on the conversation as well "It's very demanding and everybody always expects so much. We lost a Cirque about a year and a half ago. Thought she snapped her back, we feared that she wouldn't walk again. But she pulled through and we sent her away for some down time."

"So Twilight Town was the place to go" Demyx added with a beaming smile "Xemnas wasn't too happy but he couldn't deny us our needs, he can't afford us to walk out."

Hearing the new name; Sora didn't even need to open his mouth before Naminé shot off like a rocket. "Xemnas is the Ringleader and the Owner of Cirque Du Séance, his show is Heartless and by far the biggest Performance. Everybody in the whole circus is in that performance."

Sora smiled, quirking his mouth to the side and gazing at Axel.

The Pyro looked amused and he chuckled to Roxas and Demyx "Lil Lady knows what she's talking about."

"It's almost disconcerting" came the cool voice of Zexion as he walked to his companions holding an armful of props. "She's talking as if she is in our ranks of the Circus."

Naminé blushed; "Well it's just because I have always dreamed about meeting you guys and what you do is so _fascinating_, it's hard not to follow and become obsessed."

Zexion rolled his eyes and continued on ahead and Demyx patted Naminé on the shoulder "Don't worry about Zexy; he is a little sour when it comes to other people outside the circus. But you will come to know him."

Naminé smiled up at the Water Mage grateful for his friendliness and across from the blonde, her sister bounded ahead of Roxas, Axel and Sora and began to walk backwards through the Bazaar. "So" she asked casually; putting her hands behind her head "How long are you guys here for?"

Axel chuckled again, his eyes glinting in amusement, "Well like I said before, we are on a cool down period. I know my act is on, but it isn't as strenuous from our last show." Roxas interrupted the Pyro before he could keep on talking.

"About a month or more; we have a lot of preparing to do for next year and being October already that's a lot."

Axel nodded "Not to mention we have to go back to main base and take back our props from Des Animaux."

"Wow" Sora breathed "You guys are going to be here for over a month? Can we hang with you guys while you're here?" at his excitement Roxas gave him a slight smile "Sure you can, the Cirques are really nice; you will love them."

Sora had to stop himself from beaming in delight and Axel snorted "Don't look so thrilled Spiky, we can't be that awesome in your eyes. We are only Cirques."

"Only!" Kairi snarked sarcastically still walking backwards "We still think you're awesome."

"Of course I am" Axel smirked.

Roxas rolled his eyes and laughed to Kairi "Stop feeding his ego. It's big enough as it is already, I don't think I would be able to stand anymore." Sora joined in laughing and he realised how easy it was to get along with the Cirques.

The way he saw it; these were the friends he never had.

They continued to walk away from the Bazaar when Sora heard his phone ringing. His heart sank and Kairi's face darkened and she spun around and slowed down to walk with them.

"Sorry guys" Sora muttered looking at his phone screen and stopping on the pavers. There was only one person that would be ringing him and he really didn't want to answer the phone but he had no choice.

"Hi mum" he said glumly.

"Sora where are you! Why aren't you at home!" his mother snapped on the other end of the line. She sounded angry and Sora cringed internally "I'm hanging out with friends Mum; I'm down at the Bazaar."

"You're hanging out with those girls after I told you not to!" she shouted so loudly that Sora had to hold the phone away from his ear. He bought it back after it went quiet and he said into the phone "It's not their fault mum, they haven't done anything wrong, and it's all my doing."

It was silent for another second before her voice came over the line, soft and deadly; "You went and saw the Circus act didn't you?"

Sora couldn't help but sound surprised "How did you… Well yeah- Mum they were awesome; very nice-…"

"No Sora" his Mother seethed "You are coming home this instant, you have disgraced me; you are in a lot of trouble young man!"

Sora went to argue before he found his phone being yanked from his hand.

He looked up confused and saw Axel press his ear to the phone and said in a cool voice "I'm sorry, Sora has plans that he must attend to. Home will have to wait have a nice day."

He hung the phone up and Sora gaped at the Pyro; "You just hung up on my Mother, she would be freaking out and going nuts."

Axel shrugged and carelessly threw Sora's phone over his shoulder and the Brunette had to quickly dart forward and fumbled with his phone to try and catch it. He clamped his hands over it and exhaled in relief before he laughed shakily "Mum's gunna kill me."

"Pfft" Roxas snorted as he passed Sora "Who needs parents? They only ever get in your way."

Sora simply gaped at the young Acrobat and Naminé piped up with a slightly scorned voice, "Your parents are there to love and care for you. Everything they do is to protect you."

Axel rolled his head back towards Sora and Naminé and Roxas didn't turn back, instead he paused in his walking and had his back facing them.

"My parents didn't care" he finally said in a low voice, "My Mum wanted us to stay behind, Dad wanted us to go. Mum had a fight with Dad and then she disappeared. So we ran away and I have never looked back."

There was a moment of silence where Sora wanted to say something, even if it was a simple, but stupid "I'm sorry." But Roxas simply shrugged his shoulders "Like I said who needs them? Everyone in this Circus has run or left their families behind."

He shook his head of golden spikes before moving forward again and Axel sighed and followed after him. "Rox" he said "Don't get beat up about it. They didn't know, it's different here." Roxas was silent and Axel said again in a sterner voice.

"Roxas!"

Then the blonde spun around with hurt anger in his eyes and he snapped at Axel in a different language, sounding weary and sad:

"**Ils n'ont aucune idée, ****ils ne savent pas****la douleur****que nous avons traversé****. ****Je suis désolé mais****je ne peux pas****l'aider****quand je suis****brutal****!"**

"He's speaking French" Naminé whispered and Sora watched the scene feeling bad, he didn't mean to hurt the Acrobats feelings.

**"****Ce n'est pas leur ****faute****Roxas****! ****Regardez où nous****sommes, nous sommes****tellement isolés de****n'importe où!****Ils****ne savent pas****le désordre****du monde extérieur****!" **Axel snapped back, at whatever the Pyro said; Roxas shrunk back and averted his gaze to his feet and began to walk again.

Namine looked to Sora and Kairi and shrugged her shoulders slightly before murmuring "We will leave it at that guys, I think we hit a sore spot." Kairi agreed with her sister and Sora only nodded. Then from beside them, Demyx smiled down to them; "Don't worry about Roxas, he's pretty mellow, he doesn't stay unhappy for long he's the polar opposite."

'Opposite?' Sora was going to ask a question but he bit his tongue in case it hit another sore spot and Demyx striked up another conversation. "So what do we want to do? Is there any fun things to do here?"

"Uhhhh"

The reply came from Kairi who chuckled and somewhat snorted "We're in Twilight Town, out of all places you choose here?" she rolled her eyes then burst out laughing and Namine giggled and shrugged her shoulders "She's pretty much right.

Demyx mock pouted "Well just wait till the others come. Then we will have our own entertainment. To be personally honest, I probably won't be in the town again. We will all be up on Sunset hill, aren't hard to miss."

Kairi nodded and beamed "Well if we are to be hanging out with you guys, you may as well set up a tent for us!" she burst out laughing before adding "Just joking."

They strode along in comfortable silence and Sora wandered into the recess of his mind and wondered how his mother was going to react.

He was hanging with the Circus and disobeying her rules. He was so going to die but then, all he could do was smile and laugh hysterically inside.

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><p>Sorry if the translations are off and wrong :) There is only so much an online translator can do and i dont know a damn word of french LOL. Should have listened in Highschool :P<p>

Anyway here is what they meant. :)

Till next update

"**Ils n'ont aucune idée, ****ils ne savent pas****la douleur****que nous avons traversé****. ****Je suis désolé mais****je ne peux pas****l'aider****quand je suis****brutal****!" Translation : **"They have no idea, they don't know the pain we have gone through. I'm sorry but I can't help it when I'm blunt!"

**"****Ce n'est pas leur ****faute****Roxas****! ****Regardez où nous****sommes, nous sommes****tellement isolés de****n'importe où!****Ils****ne savent pas****le désordre****du monde extérieur****!"** **Translation :** "It's not their fault Roxas! Look where we are, we are so isolated from anywhere! They dont know the mess of the outside world!"


	4. The Big Top

**Enjoy... A bit of a Filler**

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><p>It was Friday.<p>

The rest of the Circus was arriving today and getting ready to perform Saturday night.

Sora, Naminé and Kairi were invited to go up to Sunset Hill after school and visit the rest of the Cirques and Sora couldn't help but feel excited all day.

But when you were excited for something, you stared at the clock and when you did that. Time almost seemed to stand still...Or even tick backwards.

Sora found it hard to concentrate, he found himself daydreaming.

Several times, he had been pulled up by his teachers and told to do his designated work. But he found it harder and harder, especially when the day ticked into the afternoon.

Kairi and Naminé were just as excited as he was, both having the afternoon off work they couldn't wait.

Xion had missed school, which was unusual for her. So again... Sora missed his chance to invite Xion along to meet the Cirques.

At lunch, Kairi was carrying her poster of the upcoming show. She had it rolled out on the table and was staring at it as Sora came over to the bench with his lunch. "Are you still carrying that around?" he asked, "You have met them in person and you still want to have that poster?"

Kairi could only grin up at the brunette, "I'm thinking if I take it up to the Big Top this afternoon, I can ask Axel and Roxas to sign it for me. Then I'll get it framed and keep it for the rest of my life." Sora sat down and unwrapped his sandwich from the plastic "You know" he stated, taking a large bite from it, "They probably have every poster for the upcoming show for the next year Kai, get them to sign them and you can have them in advance."

"Really?" Kairi squealed, clapping her hands together and her eyes shining "You think they can organise that for me?"

Sora shrugged "Axel said the other Cirques are nice, who knows, we might be invited out there more often the month that they are here really."

"I hope so," Kairi said, looking back down to the poster and unclasping her hands "I really want to meet the others, I seriously can't wait, I'm dying of excitement."

She traced the glossy picture of Axel. "Axel's gorgeous" she sighed wistfully "I'm so jealous; I'd kill for a man that is that stunning."

"Well you can't go and attack his girlfriend now" Sora chuckled, pulling off the crusts of his other slice of sandwich.

"Oh no" Kairi chuckled "You've got it all wrong Sora you dolt, didn't you see it yesterday? Its soooo obvious, Axel's gay."

Sora choked... "Wha-?"

"Your gay-dar must be broken" Kairi muttered, "Axel's so outwardly gay, there's no denying it. That means; if Axel's gay, he's obviously in a relationship with Roxas."

"And you can tell that?" Sora asked cautiously "What is with _that_, girls have a creepy fan girl that can pin point anything."

"Yeah" Kairi nodded "Pretty much, it's quite easy. I can tell that you can swing to the gay side as well Sora."

"Wha No!" Sora said, his cheeks turning a flaming red "Kairi!"

"Don't deny it" Kairi said waving her hand to him "If you found a gorgeous guy, you'd fall head over heels for him. I know you better than what you know yourself sweetheart."

Sora was spluttering, trying to fight down the embarrassment as Naminé came over with a smile on her face, it took one glance at Sora's red face and she asked casually sitting down.

"Did you finally spill the beans and say that Sora's gay Kai?"

The red head nodded, "Yeah."

Naminé smiled to Sora, "Hate to admit it Sora, but she's right. Anybody could pick up on that; I can't believe you didn't pick up on the fact that all four boys we met yesterday were openly gay."

"Oh" Kairi said "Had a thought that Demyx and Zexion were together as well, can't really pick it with Zexion though...He's rather cold isn't he?"

She began to roll up her poster "The circus" she smiled "They defy all reason and laws. Isn't that exciting?"

Naminé poked at her container of salad as she pulled off the lid.

She stabbed into a leaf of lettuce and put it in her mouth before pointing her plastic fork to Sora, "How did your mother react yesterday when you got home, I bet Axel would have scared her."

"She was strangely quiet," Sora, admitted biting back down into his sandwich "I didn't hear any crazy talk about defying my religion or anything. Even Jace asked how the act went. It was...freaky."

"That's out of the ordinary" Kairi admitted "I wonder what the witch is brewing."

"Kairi" Naminé scolded "Don't insult Sora's mother "Even though she is a witch, and she is probably brewing something... But there's no need to be mean."

"What is she going to do when you don't come home on time this afternoon? What happens when she finds out that you went up to the Big Top to meet the rest of the Cirques?" Kairi asked putting her poster down "How much trouble are you going to be in?"

"Probably heaps" Sora admitted "But I done all my homework and assignments last night, I stayed up past midnight so I didn't have to do them this afternoon."

"That's what you call smart or dumb" Naminé said, "I wouldn't have gone through the extra effort, even though I'm doing better than Kairi, Dad doesn't care unless we fail the class."

"Your life sucks" Kairi dead panned before her face brightened "But now it's good, because thanks to you! We can hang out with the Cirques."

"Are you guys even my friends?" Sora asked, scrunching the plastic up "Or are you just using me because I make friends easily?"

"A bit of both" Kairi smiled "But we all love you anyway Sora. Well I do."

"Yeah, yeah" Sora smiled "You're a terrible liar Kairi."

The three spoke about the circus all lunch up until the bell rung and they made their way to the next class. Fortunately, on Friday afternoon classes, the three were together. So the afternoon went quicker as the friends continued to blab about the Circus.

When the afternoon bell rung; Sora, Kairi and Naminé bolted from the classroom and ran for the Trams.

They were pumped to meet the Cirques, to get to know them, become great friends. The stories they would brag about to other people. They wouldn't get that chance, but they did. Sora couldn't help but feel smug. It was about time life gave them something worth to be excited about.

Sora checked the sign in the tram three times to make sure that they were on the right Tram that went through town and to Sunset Hill. He was bouncing his leg in excitement, he stared at the scenery go bumbling by.

The ride was about ten minutes through Twilight Town and out to the hills. When the sleepy sign of Sunset Hill came into view, Sora heard all the gasps of excitement. "Oh my god, the Circus, look!"

Sora looked out the window and saw a huge Red and Gold Tent set upon the hill. Flags decorated the path and Sora could see Cirques running back and forth between a large decorated Train and the tent.

"Let's go" Naminé squeaked pushing the button to signify that they wanted to get off. "I can't wait to see what they have up there."

The tram rumbled to a stop and the doors opened. Sora, Kairi and Naminé hopped off and they made it a race to run up the path and to where everything was set out.

"Hey guys!"

The voice called over and caught their attention, Demyx came running over two of his Dancer's behind him.

"So you got here alright" the young Musician sang "Welcome! Even though it's a bit of a mess still, we still have to get ready for our first performance tomorrow night. Still so much to do."

He laughed when one of his Dancer's crept forward, it went face to face up to Sora before grinning toothily.

It grabbed Sora hands, yanking him forward, spinning him around in a circle, and swaying around him.

"Looks like you've made a new friend" Naminé chuckled and Sora stated "It won't leave me alone, it has like an obsession with me. It did the same thing yesterday."

Demyx clapped his hands sharply several times before speaking in another language and the Dancer's disappeared in a burst of bubbles. "Well?" Demyx asked looking back at them, what or who do you want to meet first?"

"Where's Axel?" Naminé asked "I had a feeling it would have been him that would be waiting for us?"

"Axel is around somewhere," Demyx said looking around the site, "It is his show after all, he had to organise some things with Xemnas and find the Act lists to give to Genesis. If you find Roxas, Axel won't be far behind him."

He stepped forward, "Come on, follow me, I'll introduce you to the people we pass, even though you two will already know who they are" he smiled to Kairi and Naminé. "But I'll answer all your questions if you want."

He began to lead them through the site, "Well that's our Big Top," he said gesturing to the tent. "We all have separate ones for all of our shows. Axel likes fire, he wanted it to be red and gold, so red and gold it was. Mine's blue!"

"It's a bit hectic this time around," Demyx, said leading them over the hill and into the valley below, "We just finished up Des Animaux so..."

A loud trumpet filled the air and Sora gasped when he saw a large Elephant raise it trunk and flick water everywhere. Several people were below it laughing and all around that area, there were numerous animals in large pens.

There were horses; there were camels, lions and tigers, large colourful parrots and monkeys.

Monkeys!

"Oh wow" Naminé gasped, "You have all them here with you?"

Demyx pointed to the people below the Elephant "That's Aerith, Terra and Leon. The boys are the producers of Des Animaux and our animal trainers. Those animals are so spoilt it's not funny, I swear they are better treated than what the Cirques are!"

He led them around the top of the hill and descended the gulley.

"There's Marluxia and Larxene!" Kairi whispered, "They're the Trapeze Artists!"

The girls whispered among themselves and Sora was just amazed at the sheer size of the Circus itself.

The Cirques seemed to be situated in a large train at the front.

There were numerous carriages that held the animals and the carriages that held their shelters and pens.

There were containers, crates and ropes _everywhere. _Sora wondered how they would get it all cleaned up before the performance tomorrow night.

Demyx walked down the gulley where he waved to several other Cirques and Sora caught sight of a flash of familiar blonde hair. Roxas walked across the grass holding a large blue crate and Sora went ahead to go say hello.

As he neared, Roxas put down the crate and turned towards him with a '_What the hell_' look. Sora smiled and waved to him, as he got closer, he noticed that Roxas no longer had cuts and bruises that had decorated his face and neck.

"You must have found some good make-up to cover up those bruises," Sora said with a bright smile. Then the deadpanned voice...

"Who are you?"

Sora froze and looked down to the blonde, "I-Its Sora... We met in Twilight Town. Don't you..."

Sora heard several laughs behind him and the brunette spun around to see the girls, Demyx, Axel and...Roxas?

"Oh my god!" Naminé laughed "Its Ventus! That's Roxas' identical twin brother. They're the acrobats."

Oh...crap

Roxas came over to them and slung an arm around Ventus' shoulders "You get to learn the differences between us after a while."

Roxas' bruised face smiled to his brother and Ventus said "Were you allowed to bring civilians here Roxas?"

"Of course we were Ven" Axel sung, "We wouldn't do that, can't say you're angry though, it was a simple misconception. Since I can tell who's who right away, I can say that Roxas doesn't care and you just have to be nice."

"You talk too much," Ven said up to Axel, "I have work to do; Roxas and I haven't warmed up or done our practises yet. If we make one simple wrong move, Xemnas would have our heads."

"Lighten up Ven" Roxas frowned slightly to his brother "They're our new friends, at least try to be nice?"

"No."

Ven pulled away from his brother and walked away behind the little tents set up and Roxas was left only to smile to Sora apologetically "Ven isn't a good traveller, he is nicer than that. Very friendly, I guess we just caught him at the wrong time."

"He's nicer than you isn't he Roxas" Axel drawled to the Acrobat with a smile "What people say...The nicer Twin?"

Sora went back up to Demyx and Naminé, "Why didn't you tell me that it wasn't Roxas? Now Ventus will think I'm a creep or something."

"Oh Ven gets mistaken for Roxas all the time" Demyx waved his hand "I think, only Axel can guess who is Roxas right off the bat every single time. Even Xemnas has trouble telling them apart, so that why they wear opposite coloured clothing."

Demyx was right, Roxas was wearing red and gold, even though they were baggy black pants, the red and gold chequered shirt said it all.

Ven was wearing the exact same, except his chequered shirt was blue and gold.

"Ven gets mistaken for Roxas?" Kairi asked Demyx, "Does Roxas ever get mistaken for Ven?" The Water Musician shook his head, "Though the Acrobats are very well known, they're in _every _show... Roxas is the more dominant Twin. Everybody knows Roxas but Ven...He's rather quiet."

_The sibling left in the dark._

Demyx shrugged, "I guess also being Axel's Partner in show, Roxas is thrown more into the spotlight. Everybody knows the golden Cirques... You know what! I'm one of them!"

Demyx veered right off topic babbling excitedly, all talk about Ven forgotten.

Roxas and Axel came back over to them and Axel waved his hand across the smaller tents. "These are our Prep Tents, were we get our costumes on and get ready for the show. We make sure they're all up before we do anything else. It took all morning to get the Big Top up but doesn't it look fantastic?"

Naminé and Kairi agreed with the vibrant red head and Roxas looked around the tents looking for any sign of his brother. But Ven had disappeared.

"Let's go for a walk!" Axel announced, "I'll introduce you to everybody. There are a lot of names so keep your mind open!"

They began to walk through the tents and Demyx unexpectedly asked Axel, "Have you seen Yuffie? I thought she would be up and helping everybody but..."

"Yuffie is waiting for her sister to arrive" Axel interrupted "We're all waiting for her to arrive so we can see her again."

* * *

><p>"This here is where we practise, being the Big Top and all, we have to make sure everybody is on the ball and they get used to the setup of the Tent. Especially the Trapeze Artists and the Acrobats like our darling Roxas here!"<p>

Axel smirked down to Roxas and the blonde rolled his eyes and looked back to everybody, "We need to get used to the layout, after all the tightropes will be criss crossed across the top of the Big Top."

He gestured upwards and Sora and the Girls were able to see Tightropes almost in the shape of a star strung across the top.

"If we don't" Roxas said bringing the attention down "Ven or I can get seriously hurt. We could be killed if we make one wrong move."

"Really?" Sora asked "Don't you use a safety net or anything? The other Circuses do."

Roxas shook his head "We're different; Xemnas is money hungry and wants to prove that we are the best of the best. For example, if I fall from the tightrope during a show, it's usually Axel who stands below me. He will catch me using his fire; Xemnas wants to maintain a wall between the Performers and the Audience. So if an accident _does _happen, we can make it look like a part of the show."

"It's dangerous" Axel admitted, "This illusionary wall Xemnas has made, a Cirque could die and the Audience could applaud, thinking it was part of the show."

"It happened to Yuffie's Sister" Demyx said, "She is the Butterfly Dancer, her sister used to perform with her, but during a Performance, she accidentally misplaced her stilt because it was so dark. She toppled from the stage and broke her back. She was really hurt and we had to send her away to get better."

"After that" Axel said grimly "Xemnas grudgingly put his hands in his pockets to buy floodlights to illuminate the stage so it wouldn't happen again. One of the best things he ever did" he admitted. "Xemnas money-hungry?" Kairi enquired, "You guys are World Famous when it comes to your shows, you would be worth an absolute fortune."

"Yeah right" Axel laughed, "_Xemnas _is worth an absolute fortune. Anything we earn goes straight into his hands. But-..." he shrugged and chuckled "We don't need money anyway, The Circus is our home. We have family and everything we need."

They walked a ring around the Big Top and Roxas chimed in "Well, for one he's wrong. We have a tub that we call the Cash Pig" he explained "Every single one of us, except Xemnas knows about it, after each of our shows, we pool the money together and we have to give double back."

"Double back?" Naminé asked.

"Well" Axel said tapping his chin "If Roxas and I took say...thirty dollars from the Cash Pig, we have to cough up sixty dollars to put _back _in the Cash Pig. Once we clear our debt, our total goes back down to zero. But if you have an outstanding balance to re-pay, like Demyx" Axel said pointing to the Water Mage "You can't take any more money until you re-pay it."

"Well that's clever" Naminé agreed, "If everybody participates in it, it's a good money saving strategy."

They walked from the Big Top and they were brought back to the fields on where the animals were. Sora noticed Naminé stiffen as she looked out to the animals, looking thoughtful.

Then she looked to Axel.

"There's a lot of controversy about having animals in the Circus, have you been in trouble?"

"Controversy?" Axel asked, "Well we have had complaints but seriously, we would _never _mistreat our animals. They aren't always travelling with us, I'd say for only three months before we rotate home and take them back to the Reservation."

"Well, people say that there is often cruel ways to train animals" Naminé said and Roxas butted in, "We have not ever used a weapon or anything to harm our animals, we don't make them do tricks that they aren't supposed to. We let them roam free within Xemnas' confines, which is why we are all the way out here and we have three full carriages of their toys. We do everything for them."

"Is she saying that we hurt Hettie?" Demyx asked with large, teary eyes. He looked to Naminé, "Hettie is our resident, jumbo Princess! She gets everything she wants, all the animals do!"

Naminé knew she had caused the Cirques great discomfort before Axel said, "Terra and Leon will never mistreat the animals, they are fed, cleaned and exercised. If we didn't do that religiously, Xemnas would cancel Des Animaux, that's one of the fun shows!"

"Look" Axel exclaimed, "I know there are things that circulate around, especially on the Internet and there _are _Circuses that abuse their animals. But not the Séance Cirques, look at our Elephant Hettie! Terra loves her."

They looked out over the terrace and saw Terra throw a large ball towards the Elephant who kicked it away with a wave of her trunk. He ran around her, exciting her and giving her treats and little toys to play with.

Then she caught him with a wave of her trunk and Terra laughed before stroking her long trunk gently laughing and talking to her.

Others were washing Horses and Leon had a monkey sitting on his shoulders, copying his every move whilst clutching something in its hands.

"That's Lily-Rose," Demyx, said looking at the small white monkey on Leon's shoulder, "Leon saved her while we were touring the Islands. She was only a teensy-tiny little baby being sold on the Market Side. Leon took her, she never leaves his side."

In pens, indicated by small flashing orbs, the Lions and Tigers lied under the trees asleep. "We use magic for the bigger pens" Roxas said "Xemnas created those orbs and creates like a barrier, but all they like to do is sleep anyway, so we don't bother them."

They led Namine away, "Still believe that we abuse our animals?" Axel asked.

"I think they're looked after really well," Sora admitted.

"Besides, we don't use animals in any other shows other than Terra's and Leon's Show" Axel exclaimed, "They will get in the way of my fire acts!"

Namine nodded, if rather hesitantly. "I believe you, you are nice people."

"Better hope so" Axel smirked "Now, what can we show you next?"

* * *

><p><strong>.com - Tumblr Account... If you have, follow me :) I'll keep you updated.**


	5. Reunions and Tantrums

**Yay! I sort of got a muse back for this story after watching a few episodes of Kaleido Star, but that ship has sailed and I quickly lost interest in it. **

**But here is chapter 5 of 'Its All in the Circus Ways!'**

**I used very short one liners from some songs listed.**

**'Dynamite' Taio Cruz**

**'Party Shaker' by R.I.O- (A really catchy song if you listen to it in Nightcore version) :P**

* * *

><p>The Cirques only seemed to congregate around the newcomers as Axel and Roxas showed them around.<p>

But after a short while, the Cirque group consisting of Axel, Roxas, Zexion, Demyx, Larxene and Marluxia was once again approached by the silent, sullen form of Ventus.

He eyed Sora and the girls with disdain before saying in a blunt voice.

"Xemnas wants everybody at the gates. Yuffie is waiting for her sister to come; she wants to see everybody together."

"Really?" Roxas smiled "It's been quite a while since I've seen those two together." He gestured to Axel and the others "Come on lets go before we miss out on the grand entrance."

…

Xemnas was an ominous man that oozed authority.

He had simply given Sora a sharp gold eye before his lip quirked in disgust. He seemed like an unkind, scary man.

The Cirques as they congregated, gave the Circus Master a wide berth. The dirty, disgusted looks didn't escape Sora. It was...weird.

"Just wait" Axel grumbled to Roxas "The minute everybody will be reunited, he'll whip us all into line and carry on with 'Business.' I swear he will be the end of us."

"Don't get me started" Roxas sighed, "The first ones to die will be my brother and I."

Sora sent the duo a curious gaze before it he interrupted by Namine's incredulous voice. "Is that...?"

The brunette looked back to the gate, where the called 'Butterfly Dancer' stood. A figure walking to the gates waving and calling out excitedly.

She was...so familiar.

Suddenly, Yuffie broke out into an excited cry and bounded forward with surprising agility. The other girl did the same and as they neared the gate, Sora gasped and Kairi shrieked "Thats Xion!"

The three gawked in horror as they saw Yuffie and Xion run to each other and embrace tightly, Xion had tears rolling down her face as she swayed on the spot with Yuffie.

"Ah what the hell" Roxas cheered, "C'mon Ven."

The golden haired twins broke into a run and raced towards the girl, each of them wrapping their arms around the girls and crying out excitedly.

"Roxas- Ventus!" Xion shrieked from Yuffie's shoulders, "I'm so glad to see you guys!"

Sora looked back up to Axel, his wide blue eyes glistening in shock, "Xion was part of the Circus? She is one of you guys?"

Axel slammed his hand on Sora's shoulder with a laugh, "Of course she is, Xion had a nasty fall a while back but she is looking great now, she can come back to travelling with us. She was one of the Butterfly dancers."

Sora looked back to Xion, who was walking up the path with the twins and her sister, her face red with tears of joy. Her eyes landed on Sora, Kairi and Naminé before she waved again, "Hey guys" she called, "Guess you found out my secret a little early."

"This was why you were such the expert on all the Circuses and the Performers!" Kairi pouted indignantly, "You were a Cirque yourself! Why did you end up in Twilight Town of all places? Why didn't you tell us? We are your friends aren't we?"

Xion chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head nervously, "Well" she started lamely, "If I had told you that I was a Circus Performer, I wouldn't have ever heard the end of it from you two and Seifer would have picked on me even more."

"Puh-lease" Kairi exaggerated, "You held up just fine against that jerk, I wouldn't have gotten _that_ excited about you being part of a world renowned Performing Circus that I have been dying to see for years and years and…you should have just told us!" she finished indignantly folding her arms across her breasts, "That is _so _unfair."

Xion only chuckled somewhat nervously before her gaze fell on Roxas, "Doesn't take me long to figure out what happened, did Seifer get to you as well?"

Roxas only smiled sheepishly and Axel called out from the hill beside Sora, "Of course he did, I had to save him."

Xion beamed up at Axel before there was a wail and a blur of blue came running from over the hill, "Xiiiooooonnnnn" came the cry, "You're back!"

Xion was thrown back and a blubbering Demyx held her up in the air hugging her tightly. Xion laughed and patted the top of his spiky Mohawk. "Hi Demyx, jeez, I missed you now that I think back about it. Where's Zexion?"

Demyx put her down as Zexion stood beside Axel and gave Xion a curt nod from behind his veil of indigo hair. "It's nice to see you back Xion, everything has gone well I take it?"

Xion nodded, a stain of red creeping on her cheeks before more tears fell down her cheeks as she gazed over the whole troupe who had gathered to say hello.

"I'm so glad" she sobbed, "I've missed you all so _much_."

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand before looking up at Xemnas, "I even missed you." She could only scoff a laugh when Xemnas rolled his eyes disinterested, "Pleasure" he said monotonously, "We have to get back to work, so get onto your acts…immediately."

The silver haired Ringmaster turned heel and strode back down the hill and Axel held out his hand to the rest of the Cirques, "What did I say? Heartless bastard."

There were laughs from all around and Xion was swept up in the colours of the Cirques coming to say hello.

Roxas and Ven escaped the congregation, the sullen looking twin looking to his brother and muttering, "We have to practise Roxas, we can't afford to stuff this up. Come on, the tightrope has been put up."

Roxas sent an exasperated look to Sora, "Wouldn't mind watching on how we do things around here? We aren't the 'Greatest' Acrobats in the world for nothing."

"Yes" Naminé said for Sora with a big grin on her face, "I'd love to come and watch you guys work out."

Axel looked at Ven, "You got the safety net set right? If you don't I'd send your head rolling."

Ven waved off Axel's threat, "Of course I have the net set" he scoffed, "It'd be so much better if we could use the net in actual performances though."

Ventus pulled his brother behind him and Sora sent one last glance to Xion before trudging his way behind the Acrobats with Axel falling into step beside him, Naminé, and Kairi following them with giddy steps.

Watching the practise, it was going to be interesting.

* * *

><p><em>I came to dance, dance, dance, dance.<em>

The music blared to life in a techno style beat and all around the tent; lights pulsed from red to blue to green to yellow.

Sora could only stare up at the top of the tent in horror when he saw Roxas and Ven standing either side of the star shaped tightrope as the music blared to life and deafened those around the speakers.

Kairi and Naminé were enthralled from beside him and they didn't see in the least bit concerned if anything happened to go wrong and one of the twins could seriously hurt themselves.

"Don't worry" Axel bent down to his ear and yelled into it, "Roxas and Ven have done this a ton of times, it's very rare that one of them loses control. If one of them did, either Xigbar or I would step in and save them. We have to keep an eye on those Acrobats; they're Xemnas' favourite performers."

_I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, sayin' Eh-Oh, gotta let go_

Roxas lunged off the tiny side platform, his bandaged hands grabbing onto the thin wire of the tightrope, swinging over it a few times before heaving himself up expertly on the thin wire. Ventus mimicked the moves and in perfect sync, the twins walked across the wire towards each other, grabbing each other's hands before falling off opposite sides and catching the wire in their other.

The way they synchronised, it was amazing, they did everything in perfect unison and they did it so gracefully, their concentration not even wavered by the techno beat that blared around them.

They both treated the thin wire as if it was a plank of wood, they kept perfect balance and Sora was in complete awe of their talents.

"Oh wow" Naminé mouthed as the song paused for a brief second, "They're amazing." Sora could only nod in agreement, as he watched, the Acrobats do their performance, on the ground below them, Sora saw stagehands come running out below them and quickly set up a large trampoline.

_I wanna celebrate and live my life_

From off at the side of the nets, Axel looked unimpressed before he raised his hand; a flame erupted out towards the roof of the tent. The lights and the music shut off immediately and the stagehands on the ground paused in what they were doing.

Roxas tumbled from the tightrope and fell onto the net as Ventus hung from the wire glancing down at the Pyro with his eyes glinting unfathomably.

"What was wrong with that?" Roxas asked, looking at Axel through the mesh of the net, "Don't you like it Axel? Ven and I have practised this routine for ages!"

"The routine is fine" Axel said looking at the blonde before looking at the trampolines, "But whoever came up with the idea that you two are going to jump from the tightrope and onto those damned trampolines is going to have your legs shattered. Why haven't you integrated Larxene and Marluxia into this routine?"

"It was my idea," Ventus yelled, letting himself fall from the wire and onto the net beside his twin, "It was just unnecessary space and a waste of their own routine if they only come out to drop us to the trampolines and then go again."

"No…" Axel argued, "This is my show and what I say goes. If one of you end up breaking a leg, that show is as good as gone, there are no other people who are as good as you on Acrobatics, Xemnas would have all our asses on a platter if that happened."

"Then what do you propose we do then Axel?" Roxas asked getting up from the net and crawling to the side and jumping off. "Our routine comes off after the dances, sure we can be up there by the time they finish, how can we go off into the tramps in front of the audience without…"

"No…" Axel said, putting his fingers to his chin and looking thoughtful, "I've been speaking to Xemnas and Genesis about this upcoming show and I am thinking about turning it into a full length performing story instead of having just a theme."

"That's a bit different, even for you Axel" Roxas said uncertainly, "Usually your shows are all about the power and the passion of flames. That's what you're famous for and that's what people would come and see you do."

"Not to mention a whole new script!" Ventus exclaimed adamantly, sitting on the edge of the net and staring down at everybody, "The longer we take learning this new script, the longer we will have to stay in Twilight Town. It's supposed to be some down time for us as well, Xemnas won't even allow it."

"Stop being such a spoilsport" Axel said, waving a hand at the blue clad twin, "It's time for something fresh for my show, I'm getting quite bored with the same things over and over again. So maybe, if we can tell a story it will pull at the heartstrings a little."

"What story were you thinking of Axel?" Kairi enquired curiously, "I've never seen a Cirque Script-write before. How do you want it done?"

Axel smirked at the question flinging out his arms, flickers and trails of flame burst out from his fingertips and snaked around Roxas, dragging the blonde closer to the red head before he was pulled into Axel's arms.

Axel bent over him with smouldering eyes and Roxas went red and tried averting his gaze to something else as Axel blurted out his idea, "I was thinking about the story of the _Twin Flames_ and how Soul mates existed as one. Only to be separated into separate fiery energies and how we have to find each other in the physical world once again. It would be a _tragic _love story."

Kairi and Naminé clapped their hands together with their eyes shining as Sora went red along with Roxas and Ventus rolled his eyes. "Whatever" he grumbled, "How are you going to pull that off? Who are the Main Cast going to be? And how did you get away with such a crummy story?"

Axel let Roxas go with a whine in his tone, "It's not crummy, I thought it was clever because it represented the flame of passion and other aspects that fire is shown for."

"What?" Ventus challenged, "Like sex? Come on Axel, I think I'm getting your drift here; you and Roxas can't be the main roles. Love is supposed to be shown between a man and a woman. Not two men."

"No" Axel pouted childishly, "It's my show and I do what I want! Roxas can make a pretty girl. If Demyx can get away putting in a script of him playing the Lead Role of the Little Mermaid, I can have my goddamned Love Story!"

"Axel…"

The Pyro stopped in his rants and looked back to Roxas, who was scratching his head awkwardly, "You should hold auditions for your show if you want it like this, it's really unfair if you just hand out roles because you want them to do it. Give the others a chance will you?"

Axel pouted again, "But they could mess it up and I have to sit next to _Xemnas_. Ugh, only God knows which horrible members he'll pick. He'd make me put the elephant in there for shits and giggles."

"I agree with Roxas."

The new voice filled the tent and everybody turned around to see the Co-Producer Genesis come striding in with a book underneath his arm. "I am always one for a love story," he said in an almost blissful voice, "To have the climax when you filled with doubt when your lovers are separated by the evil, malevolent force of hatred and loneliness."

Genesis held out his hand in front of him, "I'd see Demyx as the perfect antagonist for this particular kind of story."

From in the distance of Genesis, Axel crinkled his nose, "Demyx? As the bad guy? I'd make Zexion do that part since he is so hateful and all."

"That's not very nice" Roxas chided him, "Zexion is part of our family no matter how you see it, how do you think it would make him feel if you just walked up and gave him the script to being a bad guy in your new play."

"Like I would care" Axel said, "It's my show and what I say goes."

"No" Genesis said with his eyes glinting maliciously, "This is _our _show Axel, so I suggest you stop acting like a spoiled brat. We are doing cast auditions tomorrow! And we will get this script written and everybody on board!"

Axel leant away uncertainly from the doom and gloom of Genesis, "Fine" he said in a disgruntled voice, "We'll do the stupid cast auditions alright!" his jade gaze went to Roxas, "You better audition Roxas, you hear me?"

"Alright, Alright" Roxas said with a sheepish grin, waving his hands in front of his face, "I'll be at that dammed performance, but I'm not dressing like a girl alright?"

Axel gave him puppy dog eyes and the twin brushed him off dismissively, "I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. Xemnas might not cast two male cast members, you know how he is."

"Just you wait" Axel seethed after the blonde, "Just you wait Roxas, then I will be expecting an apology from you."

* * *

><p>It was well into nightfall when Sora opened the door to his house.<p>

The hallway was dark and silent but Sora was able to hear the television from inside the lounge room, he felt the dread filling his stomach and it was making him feel sick to the core. What was his mother going to say?

What was she going to do with him?

"Sora?! Is that you?"

Sora cringed at the sharp tone that his Mother held when she came around the corner into the hallway. She placed her hands on her hips and her voice held a certain steeliness that made a shiver reach Sora's very bones.

He put his bag down on the floor beside the door and could only scratch the back of his head awkwardly. At the top of the stairs, he caught sight of his brother hiding behind the bannister, a look of dread on his face.

Obviously, their Mother had taken her rage out on him when Sora didn't come home.

Sora could smell the alcohol on his Mother's breath and inwardly sighed, though his Mother claimed to be 'Religious' it didn't stop her consumption of her favourite golden liquid.

"Who do you think you were hanging up on your Mother?" she began lividly, "I told you not to be hanging out with those 'filthy' scums and what do you do? You go out and spend all day with those _girls _and the Carnies?"

"They aren't Carnies" Sora defended his friends, "They're Cirques and you have underestimated them Mum, they are actually very nice…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence when his Mother raised her hand and slapped him clean over the face, "You listen to ME!" she shrieked, "I am your Mother and you listen to what I say! Now I have to punish you and you have to beg the Lord for his Forgiveness!"

She lunged forward, grabbed a handful of Sora's hair, and began to drag him down the hall, Sora only being able to catch a glimpse of his younger brother's horrified face before he heard his Mother open the dreaded door and he was thrown into darkness.

* * *

><p>'<em>Wake up, Wake up, people getting' on, gunna rock your body'<em>

The music blared from the Big Top the following morning, the bass and the beats beating out across Sunset Hill. The tent had come alive and from inside, the Tier Performers, namely, Axel, Roxas, Zexion and Demyx stood in the middle of the ring with the lights flashing all around them.

_Stand up, Stand up, we're moving all the way to the top'_

Xemnas stood off to the side, a grim expression on his face and arms folded across his chest. He watched the members as if he were expecting something, waiting for the right time to see what happens.

'_We flying high, so high, to the sky'_

The members were all topless, all revealing lean muscles and years of physical hard work. Sweat shone off their arms and down their backs and they all raised their arms showing what element they represented.

'_And we lead any dance floor, right tonight; We will blow this club away'_

Fire and Water shot up to the top of the tent followed by a flurry of shadows and a burst of golden light.

Roxas then raced across the stage doing several backflips before landing into a handspring before losing his balance and falling onto the stage as the light flowed off him.

From beside Xemnas, Ventus looked at his exhausted brother before looking back to the Ring Master. "It's not even seven 'O' clock yet Xemnas, give them a break. Roxas is exhausted already!" The Master didn't look too impressed with the young Acrobats exclamation and from beside Ven, Larxene nodded, "Look at him; he can't even stand up straight."

She cupped her hands either side of her mouth before shouting, "You better not have done what I think you did Axel, or I'll shove your precious jewels up your ass!"

Through the wall of flames, Axel flipped Larxene the bird before shouting over the pause in music, "Get your mind out of the gutter you pervert!"

Roxas wiped his red forehead before taking in a deep breath and running back over the stage, jumping ad twisting over the onslaught of fire, water and shadows. Finally, he sprung over the wall of flames, using a burst of golden light to launch himself into the air.

He landed perfectly on the other side of the stage, stumbling slightly before raising his arms and showing his back to Xemnas, Ventus and Larxene.

Xemnas shook his head in disappointment and Ventus could only stare at his brother in sympathy. "You have to get this right Roxas," Xemnas said waving his hand and stopping the music, "How can you expect to perform in my Circus when you can't even land straight?"

Roxas let his arms fall to his side, his exhaustion clearly showing the rate he was using his magical powers, slowly but surely, a golden light filled his limbs and the Acrobat began to glow.

Intricate scars decorating Roxas' spine and back began to fill with golden light, snaking up his arms and neck. Xemnas waved his hand again, the lights were shut off and the front of the Big Top was closed, plunging the whole stage into darkness.

"Alright, the rest of you! Get your asses into gear!" Xemnas shouted, "We _have _to perfect this!"

At his command, Demyx enveloped himself in a bubble of water before bursting it and spraying the front seats with droplets of sparkling blue water.

On cue, the scars on Demyx's back in the shape of waves began to glow a vivid blue and beside him Axel began to glow red and Zexion a shade of purple.

The tension in the tent began to rise and Ventus felt his chest began to constrict at the pressure of the magic weighing him down.

"We need this act done in complete darkness!" Xemnas boomed through the pitch black of the Big Top, "You have to memorise your stepping and your act as if you were blindfolded! Demyx, I want your Dancers out here, Zexion, Prepare your Pillars of Darkness and Axel, set the stage alight I want Roxas to jump down Pillars and loops of fire and be caught by Demyx's Dancers."

"B-But Xemnas" Ventus said desperately, "They could hurt themselves, are you purposely trying to make their powers clash? It's so dangerous, why are you…"

"My Circus, my Performers, my rules" Xemnas snapped in the 'Final Tone', "You have no magical power Ventus, so you just sit back and watch!"

* * *

><p>"Ouch!"<p>

"I'm sorry!"

"Be careful would you?"

Roxas held out his burned hands so Demyx could wrap them up in a thick poultice for relief, Ventus stood behind them with his hands clenched together behind his back as he observed the physical trauma his brother had gone through.

It was now seven-thirty A.M and Roxas had sustained the first injury when Axel's flames had clashed with Zexion's shadows and burned the skin of Roxas' hands resulting in him crashing to the stage writhing in pain.

Xemnas had simply shaken his head in disapproval before walking from the Tent, leaving the other Cirques to help the injured Roxas.

"You can't perform like this!" Axel snapped, waving his hand at the damage. "We have Cast Auditions today! Genesis went out and informed the whole Circus, I wanted Roxas to be a Lead Role and he can't do it with burned hands!"

"Well maybe he didn't want a Lead Role!" Demyx spat back, "He's exhausted Axel, he hasn't had a break all year and you're just being selfish…as always. Get Ventus to do it."

"No!" Axel snapped, "It'll feel weird kissing _him_."

Ventus looked downright horrified at the thought and he said stepping back, "No way, if I have to do any male kissing, count me out. Then you'll be down _two _acrobats."

"Guys" Roxas reasoned, "Come on, we shouldn't be fighting. Things like this happen, its part of being part of the Circus. We'll just have to make do with what we have; there is a ton of other people out there who would love to be part of a new show."

Axel looked away with a pout decorating his face and Demyx sat back and admired his work on Roxas' damaged hands. "We'll just have to be careful okay" he warned, "It could seriously ruin your hands if you try and use them."

Roxas sighed sadly, "Looks like I won't even make a cut, good luck everyone, I'll be cheering from the sidelines."

Axel didn't look happy in the slightest at the outcomes of his show, he stood there with a smouldering expression on his face before the front of the small tent was thrown open and Zexion strode in looking somewhat troubled.

"What going on with you?" Axel spat sullenly, "Did your show just get ruined?"

Zexion shook his head, "No" he said pointing to the front of the tent, "I just walked past Xion and those other two girls, Kairi and Naminé. They were talking to Genesis and Xemnas about something. I'd better get out there and demand to know what's happening Axel."

At that exclamation, Axel's jade eyes widened and he raced from the tent with desperate mutters, "No, no, no, this can't be happening!"

Roxas sighed as Axel exited the tent before looking to Zexion quizzically, "You didn't see Sora out there?

Zexion shook his head and Roxas looked out to the terrace beyond before shrugging, "Oh well, since I have nothing to do today, I think I'll go have a look around Twilight Town. Want to come with me Ven?"

The Twin Acrobat nodded, "Sounds like a plan, we should get out of here before Axel starts throwing a hissy fit about the Cast. He isn't going to be happy."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "Tell me about it, I'll be listening to him whinging all night tonight, don't worry though, you'll be hearing all about it as well…since we live in the same carriage and all."

Ventus clapped his brother on the shoulder with a small smile gracing his face, "Lets stop thinking about it and spend some time together? It's not every day that we get to do this, so let's make the most of it."


	6. Roxas and Ventus to the Rescue

**...**

**The worst feeling is looking at my fanfic profile and realising how long I have been MIA... _Sorry!_**

* * *

><p>They both walked along the long brick wall that led into Twilight Town.<p>

One clad in red and the other in blue, identical twins walking along a narrow strip of wall that surrounded the Bazaar.

All around, they received curious glances from the shoppers that milled about, something that didn't bother Roxas all too much, but it bothered Ventus greatly and it made him uncomfortable. As they reached the end of the wall, Roxas leapt off with a jingle of his bell shoes and landed neatly in the concrete.

Ventus followed on behind, landing back into a handspring and standing up behind his brother. The twins looked around the Bazaar wondering what they could do first until Roxas shrugged, "How about some breakfast? We didn't get to eat anything back at the Trains after my accident."

Ventus nodded and the Cirque Twins wandered around the Bazaar looking for a nice place to eat before coming outside a small outdoor café. They sat down at one of the tables and Roxas rummaged around his checkered pants, pulled out a brightly woven wallet and looked at the notes inside.

"I saved some money so I could come down here during our stay, so I'm sure I have enough to cover our breakfast." He put the wallet back in his pockets and smiled at his sullen looking brother, trying hard to ignore the looks they were getting.

"Hey" he reassured Ventus, "We're always going to be looked at Ven, we're unique and people are curious about us. We come from a Circus, you should know by now that most people love us. You should stop worrying about it so much."

They both looked up when a bubbly brunette girl approached them holding a menu, her green eyes shining, "Good morning, here are your menus, would you like to start off with some drinks?" she was gazing at Roxas expectantly and he waved his bandaged hand, "Can we both get a jug of orange juice please?"

Sure the girl beamed, "If I may ask, you're both from that Circus aren't you?"

Roxas nodded, "Yeah, if you say that. I'm Roxas and this is my Twin Brother Ventus, we're the Acrobats in the shows. Is there anything else you like to know?"

The girl blushed, her cheeks going red before she gushed, "I'll go get your drinks, I'll be right back." She dashed back inside where she was seen jumping up and down behind the counter with one of her other workmates and it only made Ventus sigh, "You are aware what they are going to do?"

"Yep" Roxas said sitting back in his chair, "I'm going to say that I'm taken and you're completely free, so you can take that girl out for a date." Ventus looked horrified at the remark and Roxas chuckled, looking at the menu.

"Stop looking so horrified would you? You're like nineteen, almost twenty Ven; it's high time that you start growing up."

Ventus sent a scathing glare to his brother, "If I chose to grow up Roxas, you'd be the one that would hate my decisions in what I want to do in life. So until that happens, I'm just going to sit tight and sit in the massive shadow of my brother."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas quirked a brow and put down his menu as Ven picked his up and quickly scanned the list before putting it back down, "You aren't hidden by me Ven, we're the Acrobat Duo. We do everything together; we aren't known to be by ourselves."

Ven sighed and looked up as the girl came back with their jug of orange juice, she sat it down in front of them, bowing her head slightly to hide the fact that she was blushing before pulling out her notepad and taking down their orders.

When she disappeared back inside, Roxas sighed; he leant forward and picked up the jug of juice. He pulled out a card with a number written on it before flinging it at Ventus. "Here you go" he said, "I'd never think I'd be the one doing that. Everyone usually hits on Axel."

Ventus looked at the card, saw the number and underneath in curly writing was her name, _Olette._

"And so it begins" the Twins sigh.

* * *

><p>Ventus was staring in at a Puppetry Shop when Roxas walked past with a bag with some new clothes in it. "What are you looking at?" he asked him, peering in the window beside his brother.<p>

"Look at those" Ven breathed, pointing his finger on the glass towards the back wall of the shop, "Remember back when we first joined the Circus? We were like eight? Axel got us those wooden swords and we used to pretend fight around the Carriages? Xigbar and Luxord used to have bets on who used to win?"

Ven chuckled and Roxas saw two objects mounted on the wall and felt his heart flutter when he remembered the nostalgia the memories bought him, That and the price tags hanging off them.

Both were large steel crafted Keys, one a dark colour with the teeth spiking out. It was thick and chunky and the one Ventus was pointing at.

The one underneath it was blue and gold and in the shape of a star. The handle swirled backwards as if they were Angel wings and the blade itself was in the shapes of stars.

"Let's go have a look," Roxas muttered, leaving the window and walking to the door. Ven followed him eagerly and as they pushed open the door, the Counter person smiled at them. "Welcome" he said, "What can I do for you?"

"We're just having a look around thanks" Roxas smiled at him before making his way to the wall and looking at the large Keys.

"Wow, they're amazing" Ven muttered, "Do you think we can get them Roxas?"

Roxas hesitated when he saw the price tags again, "I don't have enough on me Ven, I'm going to have to ask Axel when we get back to the Big Top. We might have enough if we do a Performance and we can come back and buy them."

"But we can't do a Performance!" Ventus insisted, "You burnt your hands Roxas, how are we supposed to do any of our Routines if you can't even land on your hands? You can't even use them."

"Like I said before" Roxas reasoned, "I will ask Axel, he might be able to help out with a street performance. I'll even ask Demyx, I can still use our Routine with him."

"But Demyx is lazy" Ventus pouted looking back up to the Keys. "They might be gone by the time we save up the money, that's if we even save up enough by the time we leave!"

"I'll get Axel to do a strip tease or something" Roxas snapped, "Ven, we don't have the money right now, I can't afford them. I'm sorry if I can't go out to the street and do some flips, we will come back here later."

As they argued, the older man from behind the counter came up behind them, "You're those little Acrobats from the Circus aren't you?"

Roxas turned around and saw the man, who looked remarkably familiar. He nodded and the man chuckled, "You must have met my girls by now, I'm Kairi and Namine's father. It's an honour to have Cirques in my own shop."

"Kairi and Naminé?" Roxas smiled and reached out his hand, "We're friends with them actually; it's nice to meet you. I'm Roxas and this is my brother Ventus."

Ven shook his hand as well and the man chuckled, "My names Roran, I've taken the girls to some of your shows before, they're both very big fans and when they found out that you were coming to Twilight Town, boy, they were mighty excited."

Roxas smiled at him, "They're both at the Big Top with Xion, I doubt she told anyone that she was actually a Cirque. They're not afraid to approach even the biggest of the Cirques up there."

Roran chuckled before stepping forward and taking the Keys down from the wall and snapping off the price tags. "Here" he smiled, handing the Twins the respective Keys they were looking at, "That's for making my girls feel welcome with the Cirques and being their friends. It's very much appreciated."

"O-Oh Sir" Roxas stammered trying to refuse the Key, "We can't accept these, thanks for the offer but…"

"Nonsense" Roran dismissed them and dumped the Keys in their hands, "Just do me a favour and put on a killer of a show alright? I'll be the first in line to see you all." He refused to take them back and Ventus relented right away.

"Wow, thanks a lot Sir. You don't know how much this means to us. You're awesome" he swung the Key around Roxas, "We can go up and show Axel and Demyx! How cool is this?"

They all went silent when the door jingled and a loud feminine voice came ringing out across the shop, "Roran!?"

The twins didn't miss the grimace that passed over Roran's face before he ushered them to hide in the storeroom near the display wall. Confused, Roxas and Ventus did what they were told and they silently hid behind the door as a woman came storming up to Roran.

"Ah… Heather" Roran chuckled, "What brings you to my humble little…"

'_Slap'_

"I have had it up to _here _with your meddlesome girls Roran!" the woman shouted, "They have driven me to grief and Sora has begun to disobey me. He went out and spent _all _afternoon with those _disgusting _Circus 'filth' and came home well after dinner! I had to punish him Roran and it's your girls fault."

"You can't blame everything on Kairi and Namine, Heather" Roran tried with her, "Sora is his own person as well, you can't always expect them to follow the rules can you?"

"No!"

This Heather woman, sounded furious and Roxas was listening hard to hear what she had done to Sora.

"Sora has sinned again Roran and he is paying the punishment now along with his brother. And if I see my sinful son playing with your 'heathen' daughters again, I will take matters into my own hands."

"If you do that Heather," Roran sounded serious now, "I will get the Law involved; my family have quite enough of your petty threats. And I swear, if you so much as raise your hand to hurt those boys more than what you already have, I will call Child Protection."

"How dare you."

"You claim to be religious Heather, but I can still smell the whisky on your breath. If anybody should be begging for forgiveness, it should be you; you shameful woman!" Roran said harshly.

"Are you threatening me?" Heather yelled, "I'm going to the Police Station Roran, I'm going to have an AVO put on you, I'm going to keep Sora away from your filthy family. Then I will be going up to that flea-ridden Circus and demand to speak to the Manager there and get them to leave Twilight Town."

"Good luck Heather, now I'm going to ask you nicely, leave my store" Roran said, "I don't want to see you in here again."

There was an angry huff and the door opened and closed before Roxas burst out from the storeroom, "Sora's Mother hurts him? Where abouts does he live?"

Roran watched the brunette woman leave the shop and stomp across the street before looking back at Roxas and his determined face and Ventus peeking out from behind the door. Roxas was livid and stared at Roran waiting for an answer before the older man sighed and shook his head.

"You will not meet a nastier woman, I really feel sorry for Sora and his brother, I really do. It hasn't been the first time she has hurt or abused them. Kairi and Nami always come home and tell me all the horrible stories on what that poor boy has to endure."

"Our parents used to hurt us" Ven whispered from behind the door, "We ran away from home and joined up with the Circus, we have been there ever since."

Roran went back to his counter top and quickly scrawled a rough map and giving direction to Sora's house. "This is where he lives; I suggest you boys hurry if you're going there to help him. Heather is notorious for getting what she wants around here."

"Oh she won't have a chance with Xemnas," Roxas said, waving his hand. "Xemnas doesn't like being looked down upon and likes to exert his 'power' over commoners. You won't meet a man sterner than Xemnas."

He held up his bag and the Key, "Is it okay if we leave these here while we go help Sora? We'll come back and pick them up."

Roran nodded, "I'll tell you what, you get Sora out of the house and take him up the Circus and keep him safe, I'll pop up after work and see how he's going and I will bring the Keys. How does that sound?"

Roxas looked to Ven, who only nodded and Roxas put his bags against the wall, grabbing Ventus by the hand, "Come on, we have to be quick if we are to get him out of there."

The acrobatic twins walked towards the front of the store before opening the door, listening to the cheery jingle of the bell before taking one glance to the directions and running down the intended road.

"Who would've thought that Sora was so unhappy?" Roxas asked, as he and Ventus raced down the road, where the building had made way to quaint and sleepy little cottages "Could have fooled me with that happy-go-lucky attitude he has."

"Well you don't notice a lot of things," Ven grumbled, keeping a steady pace beside his twin, "If they intentionally try to hide what is bothering them, you never really know unless it hits you in the face."

"But to just think," Roxas puffed, "He is being hurt by his mother; we are some of the only people that can relate to that. He is a strong person to deal with that and still be in the same house. We ran away."

Ven pursed his lips, not liking the fact that they were talking about their bad past. Yes, their parents had hurt them both. Physically and mentally and it had been Roxas that had stood up and made the decision to run away and join the travelling Circus.

The twins came to a stop in front of a small yellow cottage at the end of the road, it was still neat and pretty, but compared to the other houses around it; it was a house that was ill kept.

The pale yellow paint had begun to peel off the panels, the tiles starting to slip on the roof and the garden, a little over grown.

What bothered Roxas the most was that the windows on the side of the house had bars on them.

_Bars_

"What sort of crazy woman is this person?" Ven breathed, his eyes tracing the bars, "Talk about either being too possessive or just being plain insane."

"A person that doesn't deserve to be a Mother" Roxas said grimly, stepping forward and pushing open the small picket gate and walking down the overgrown path, "Come on, let's hurry up before this _person _decides to bypass the Circus."

"I hope Xemnas gives her an earful" Ven grumbled, "He is really good at putting people in their place. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to that situation go down."

The Acrobats reached the front door and weren't very surprised to find it dead bolted from the inside. They just had to find another way into the house, it wouldn't be that hard.

The back door was closed and locked and so was every window around the house. Roxas was getting more annoyed at the fact that they weren't able to find a way in before Ventus found a very small window that was open, leading to the laundry.

They ducked around the side and Roxas was the one that offered to go in first. Ventus hoisted him up to his hands and Roxas clambered in through the small glass window on landing on the tiles inside.

He looked through the window at his twin and gestured around the back, "I'll open the back door for you Ventus. I'll meet you there."

Ven nodded and dashed around the side of the house and back to the yard where he saw the back door rattling slightly in the fame before Roxas pushed it open and revealed the dark house inside.

Ventus re-joined his twin and he was able to see the revolt plastered all over Roxas' face as they stepped foot into the house itself.

Like the outside, the inside was neat but a little untidy. But what got them was the instant smell of alcohol and smoke. Not that the twins minded, it's what Xigbar and Luxords carriages on the train smelt like.

But they were _men_ and not some psychopathic woman who thought she was the Mayor of Twilight Town and one who possibly abused her children.

Roxas looked up and down the halls before fighting down the tremble in his legs before daring to call out through the utterly dark house.

"Sora!" he called rather hesitantly at first, "Sora! Its Roxas and Ven, we're here to help you. Can you give us a sign on where you are?"

He closed his mouth and perked his ears, trying to catch any sound that Sora could have made upon hearing his voice. Further on down the hall, near the kitchen, Ventus did the same thing. The blondes crept around the carpet and Roxas called out again.

"Sora! Can you hear us?"

After five minutes of fruitless searching, Ventus suddenly held out his hand and hushed his brother who was about to call out again. He pointed down another small corridor that went past the Kitchen, to what must have been the bedrooms.

He dashed across the carpet, Roxas was hot on his heels and there, they were able to decipher muffled sounds and audible bangs.

"It's coming from the linen closet," Roxas hissed, groping around the grim corridor for a light switch. He found one at the end of the corridor on a doorframe and the area was lit up in an old golden light, a flickering bulb almost to the brink of burning out.

"It's locked!" Ventus growled, rattling the door uselessly and looked exasperatedly to his brother. He knew a locked door wasn't going to stop Roxas.

The red clad twin stomped forward, lifting a belled shoe and putting all his might against the door. The flimsy wood easily broke from the hinges from the sheer power of Roxas' legs and the blondes gazed in, their sapphire eyes going wide at the sight before them.

The linen closet had been cleared out of the shelves and so had the back wall, Roxas stepped in and saw that the plasterboard had been almost _clawed _away, revealing the dripping pipes in the wall.

Sora and another younger boy were gagged and _tied _to the dripping pipes with lengths of cord, both stuck there with their arms tied above their heads. Sora's face was streaked with grime and old tear stains.

His eyes widened at the sight of the Acrobats and tears instantly filled them, the look of shame permeating his pale face.

"My god" Ventus whispered, stepping in after his brother, "This woman is an absolute _bitch_. Do you think the police will believe us if we went and filed a report against her?"

At the statement, Sora made a muffled noise and shook his head frantically. His eyes widened, as if they were pleading with the twins not to get involved with this. Sora's younger brother looked the same. Instead, he shook his head rather sadly.

Roxas bent down in front of Sora and started to untie the bloodstained cloth away from Sora's mouth. He let it fall away and Sora spat out several tissues before coughing and drawing air into his lungs.

"Sora…" Roxas said in disgust and horror, "Your _Mother _did this to you! What gives her the sick twisted idea that she can do this to her children? What goes through her _head_?"

Sora sent a hesitant gaze to Ventus who was releasing his brother and Roxas got to work untying his own cord binding his hands.

"Mum thinks that we will run away and she feels it's necessary to lock us up in here if we misbehave or if she leaves the house. She's done it for years Roxas and she threatens us if we try and tell others."

"This is revolting" Ventus hissed, "You guys must be locked up here on days on end while she's out abusing the other people that live in Twilight Town. I say we should reveal her for the rotten scumbag she is!"

"Don't do that," Sora pleaded, "I know what she does is wrong, but she's our mother. She went a little funny after Dad left and she doesn't want us to follow the same path. She may be cruel, but we still love her."

Roxas looked disgruntled at the last statement before a growl escaped his chest, "If I could have, I would have _killed_ my parents! And they didn't do anything like this! I did it to protect Ventus. I wouldn't stand for it Sora."

The acrobats released the brothers and Sora rubbed his wrists before wiping the tears away from his face, "I'm sorry you had to see this, I really am. It just goes to show how weak I really am."

"We're taking you both back to the Big Top" Roxas declared, "Ven and I were in Kairi and Namine's family shop and your Mother burst in and started abusing Roran. Then she was going up to the Hill to abuse Xemnas."

"Which I doubt she would have gotten very far" Ven seethed, helping Jace up to unsteady feet, "I hope he ripped her to shreds. I'd have the elephant crush her. Horrible, _vile_ woman."

"We'll get into trouble" Jace spoke up, his voice trembling with weariness, "She said that we weren't allowed to associate with vile, Circus filth. If she finds out we disobeyed her, she'll go even further to hurt us."

"I'm not going to let that happen" Roxas said firmly, "I'm going to tell Xemnas what she has done and I'm sure we can file a statement at the Police Department and have this place checked out and have her acquitted for child abuse."

"You seem like quite the expert on those sort of cases" Sora said weakly and Roxas looked at him sternly, "Child abuse is what drove me to take Ven and run. I've spent years trying to hurt my parents, the way they did us, but they're both crack addicts and my mother is a filthy whore."

He grabbed Sora's arm and hoisted him up, "I don't want you to hear you arguing" he demanded to the brunette, "Otherwise, I'll take things into my own hands and I won't guarantee that Kairi and Namine will find out."

Sora looked horrified at the aspect of his closest friends finding out his worst secret and Roxas knew that he had won before dragging Sora out of the dank little linen closet. Ventus followed on behind.

They left via the front door, leaving it wide open for the rest of Twilight Town to see. This alarmed Sora who said that his Mother would go back to the police thinking she had been broken into.

This only elicited a shrug from Roxas who said she would go as far as going to the Police if it concerned her own house. It put her in risk of the house being searched and the authorities finding her vile little secret.

This made Sora feel a tiny bit better, but he was still terrified at the fact that he and his friends could run back into his mother as they tried to find safety.

Thankfully, the streets remained sleepy and by the time the four reached the Big Top, Roxas pushed Ven, Sora and Jace aside behind the row of smaller crates and tents when screaming erupted from the entrance of the Big Top.

"What makes you think you can come to Twilight Town and start corrupting our children? You and your _filthy_, flea ridden circus is ruining our peace!"

The voice of Sora's mother was unmistakable and by the sounds of it, she was fighting tooth and nail to fight a battle she was quite obviously losing. Roxas could only guess who she was screaming at.

"Filthy?" came the smooth voice of Xemnas, "And flea ridden? Have you not heard of my endeavours with this Performance Circus?"

"No…"

"Then what gives _you _the right to come up here, start harassing my performers and just generally think that you are the _Overlord _of Twilight Town? Because I recall not coming to seek _your _permission."

"You are corrupting my children!"

"That is your problem…not mine. Stop blaming the world for your mistakes and the _petty _things that seem to bother you. Now, I ask you for the last time before I have you hung upside down by the Elephant. Get out of my Circus."

"How dare you, I have already gone to the Police."

"So? What grounds do you have? You are a corruptive _liar_ and I have wasted enough of my precious time listening to you gasbag."

"I'm going to stop you! You disgusting man."

"At least I take care of myself; I can smell your breath from over here. You smell worse than our resident drunk. Remove yourself; I grow bored of your rants. I'm too busy to be associating with _filth _like you."

There was a sputtering of response and Roxas crept around the tent to see Xemnas come strolling out looking stern, yet bored.

From behind him, Sora's mother emerged, her hand ready to slap Xemnas across the back of the head. But Xemnas was fast, in a whirl of long silver hair, the Ring Master had spun around and grabbed Heather's hand.

He held it above her head and his amber eyes leered into hers, he leant forward as the woman began to spout bible entries at him.

"The Lord Jesus Christ will smite you where you stand," she growled, "You are followers of the Devil himself, you will receive no mercy!"

"Do not quote the bible to me woman" Xemnas said softly, his voice threatening, "You do not even know the first meaning of the teachings. Do not dare quote it to me when you cannot follow it yourself!"

He let her go and turned back around, fixing his immaculate black jacket. "Now" he said finally, "Remove yourself from my premises before I decide to lock you up with the animals. I doubt anyone would miss you. They would see it as a _blessing_."

Xemnas left the scene without a backwards glance and Roxas looked back to his brother hiding behind the smaller, coloured tents.

Both smirked at each other and Ventus gave a thumbs up and Roxas held down a snort of laughter as Heather looked ruffled and embarrassed, before stomping down the hill and towards the front entry gates.

Roxas watched her leave before running up the terrace and catching up to Xemnas, with every intention of telling the Ring Master what he and Ventus had found about that woman. Then they could start making preparations.


End file.
